Nano Effect: 1
by LEGION001
Summary: Crysis tech in Mass effect universe crossover. CryNet Phantom Wraith, is sent on a mission to Eden Prime on the Alliances newest warship with the legendary Commander Shepard. Nothing could have prepared him for what would come after. Shepard/OC, Rewritten and Revised version has been uploaded. Please read that one instead!
1. Chapter 1: The Beginning

_(A.N. My first Fanfic. Many thanks to DN7 who helped me with this story, and shadowinferno for checking my grammer. Please give me your honest feedback.)_

The Beginning

_A true masterpiece of Turian and human engineering_I thought as I walked along the deck of the Normandy on my way to the cockpit. There was something off about Nihilus, the Turian Spectre on board. I knew that the Normandy was making a covert pickup of an ancient Prothean beacon, but there was something else going on that I didn't know about. _Why would Commander Shepard also be on board? _

Shepard wasn't exactly your normal officer for this sort of thing. Everyone knew Shepard and what she's done. She survived her entire unit being slaughtered on Akuze, and a year later she was the one who led the assault on Torfan. She led her troops into a fortified base and came out with minimal losses on her side and killed all the slavers that didn't surrender. Many people looked up to her as a role model as a person who would survive anything and go up against impossible odds to achieve victory. There were some rumors that Shepard didn't go in with just her unit. Some said that there was an elite black ops specialist who helped Shepard fight through the base.

_Heh for once the rumors were almost true_. I remember Torfan, the third time I met Shepard. The first time was on Mindior after the slaver attack. I had seen Lynna die, I had almost given up when I saw her. Shepard, standing in front of the bodies of her parents. Seeing her caused my resolve to grow. I got Shepard to the Alliance who then said that they would take care of her. I left her in the care of the Alliance soldiers and went back to the lab. I grieved for Lynna but knew that I had to make life a better place for all innocents.

I'm not sure why but I kept an eye on Shepard as she made her way up in the alliance. When all contact was lost with her squad on Akuze, I went there; I guess I thought her as a similar soul. We had both lost our parents when we were 15, and they had both died to criminals. I found her running from thresher maws. From what I gathered she led her unit there looking for a distress beacon. When they landed however, they were attacked by the Thresher Maws, and it seems that the ones who set the distress beacon were also killed by them.

Torfan. It was simple. The Alliance wanted a CryOps Phantom for help taking out the base, and I wanted to take out slavers. Torfan was a good chance to do so. I went there, met Commander Shepard once more as she was in charge of the mission. We made our plans, I would enter the base before Shepard attacked to provide recon and assistance where it was needed. I did better than that. I was able to sabotage many of the enemies systems, but it was the leadership of Shepard that kept her unit alive and ultimately won us the battle. We captured the Batarian slavers and handed them over to the Alliance. I could have killed them in revenge for killing Lynna but I knew that she would never have wanted me to kill in cold blood.

Well anyway, if you want something done covertly you don't send a famous soldier to do it. You send some one, not so well known but equally skilled.

And the Spectre? The fact that he's a Turian makes sense. This project was a Turian/Human project not a Human/Council project, so there should be a Turian officer on board not a Spectre. _He is watching Shepard a lot..._

_Ahhh I see now..._ _Shepard is most likely a Human Spectre candidate or maybe even the only one. Interesting. _

As I neared the cockpit I noticed that Nihilus was standing behind Joker. And Shepard was nowhere to be seen.

When he noticed me arriving he greeted me "Wraith"

"Nihilus, Joker, Alenko" I responded, "Whats the Status?"

"10 minutes out from the Arcturus prime relay Wraith"

"So" I said to Nihilus in an undertone so as not to be overheard "Shepard is a candidate for the Spectres?" Grinning under my mask at the sight of Nihilus's shocked face

"How-"

"Did I know? Easy, why would the famous Commander Shepard be here for a covert op and not a not so famous specialist? Why would a Turian _Spectre _be on board since the Normandy is a Alliance/_Turian _Project and not an Alliance/C_ouncil_ Project?"

"I am surprised. I did not expect you to figure that out."

"Please I'm the best CryOps Phantom, I can see the signs." I was then interrupted by Joker

announcing that the ship was approaching the Arcturus Prime relay and my nanosuit detected footsteps approaching. I turned and saw Shepard coming.

"Ahh we meet again Commander!"

She looked at me in surprise and asked "Wraith?"

"The one and only"

As the ship made the jump through the relay she said "I didn't know you were the agent assigned for the shakedown run." I just looked at her as Joker checked off the systems after the jump.

"1500 is good your captain will be pleased." Nihilus complimented Joker looking at me intensely while he left.

"I hate that guy" I smirked under my mask, typical joker.

"Nihilus gave you a compliment, so you hate him" was Kaiden's confused response.

"You remember to zip up your jumpsuit on the way out of the bathroom? That's good. I just jumped us halfway across the galaxy and hit a target the size of a pinhead. So that's incredible! Besides Spectres are trouble. I don't like having him on board. Call me paranoid." My smirk grew unseen.

"You're paranoid. The Council helped fund this project. They have a right to send someone to keep an eye on their investment."

"Yeah that is the official story. But only an idiot believes the official story." Joker said seriously.

"Besides it was a Alliance/Turian project, not an Alliance/Council project." I cut in.

"And they don't send Spectres on shakedown runs" added in Shepard.

"So there is more going on here than the Captain's letting on."

Oh how true. The captains voice then came through demanding a status report. "Tell Commander Shepard to meet me in the comm room for a debriefing."

"I'm going to head down to the cargo hold. I will probably see you later Shepard." I said deciding to check my suits systems before we got to Eden Prime

"See you Wraith."

As I walked to the cargo hold I noticed the nervous glances that my suit drew from the crew, It wassomething that I had gotten used to a while ago.

While running a diagnostic on my suit, I called Niel to tell him about Shepard's Spectre candidacy.

"Hey Niel guess what I found out"

"What is it Martin?"

"Well the Turian Spectre Nihilus Kryik is on board, and I noticed that he was watching Shepard rather closely."

"Wait... You don't think that maybe she's a Spectre candidate?"

"Well I thought that it was weird that they were using Shepard for a covert operation. And the only thing that made sense was that she's a Spectre candidate. I asked Kryik if she was and his shocked face was all I needed to know."

"Well we suspected that the council was looking for human Spectre candidates and who else than Commander Shepard?"

"True so is there any changes in the mission yet?"

"No all is quiet. Our thermal sensor buoys are not picking up the Normandy, so stealth systems are fine."

"Good I-. Wait I'm getting an incoming distress signal from Eden Prime!"

"Yeah I just got it as well."

The footage from the distress signal showed a woman wearing Phoenix armor under heavy fire from unknown assailants. She pushes the cameraman down out of the line of fire. After more heavy fire the camera turns to focus on another marine who says "We are under attack! Taking heavy casualties I repeat: Heavy casualties! We can't...argh!..-eed evac! They came out of nowhere. We need-" The Marines then look at a dreadnought of incredible size.

"Martin, that ship doesn't match anything in our Databases."

"Captain its Wraith did you see that?"

"Affirmative. Take us in Joker fast and quiet. This mission just got a lot more complicated."

I heard Nihilus say that a small strike team could move quickly and not draw attention, I agreed that that would be the best chance to secure the beacon.

"Grab your gear and meet us in the cargo hold."

Soon I was joined by Nihilus, Shepard, her squad and the Captain.

"Captain, whats the plan?"

The Captain opened up a map of the area around the beacon. "Nihilus will enter at this location here, Shepard and her squad will enter here. Shepard will make her way to the dig site along this route. Nihilus will scout the area alone. I think that you know where the best place for you is"

"SECOND Tactical options."

SECOND brought up map the same map on my visor. _**"Tactical options available: Drop at drop-point 2 with Alliance squad, Provide recon and support. Execute air insertion at secondary location. Meet Alliance squad at Dig Site. Provide Recon and Support to Alliance squad."**_

"Well I have two options, I could drop with Shepard and provide close support, or I could do an air insertion at this location that would have a good sniping position overlooking the dig site so I could cover them from afar. Both are acceptable. It's your choice Captain."

"I'll have Joker fly to the insertion point after we drop Shepard off. You can provide Shepard with sniper support at the dig site."

"Affirmative"

"Joker, after you drop Shepard bring the Normandy to these coordinates."

"Aye aye sir."

As the Normandy approached drop point two, I walked to Shepard and her squad. "Shepard I'll meet you at the dig site, try not to take to long."

"HA! Last one there buys drinks!" She challenged

Just then we arrived at the drop point. "The mission's yours now Shepard good luck!"

As Shepard was dropped off, my suit HUD kicked in.

"Alright Captain, we're there, 40 meters is low enough I'll see you after the mission Captain"

With that I jumped out of the Normandy.

_(A.N. alright well the first Chapter. Next chapter is coming as soon as it's ready. Please give honest reviews!)_


	2. Chapter 2: The Eden Prime Crysis

_**Disclamer. I don't own Mass effect or Crysis. **_

**The Eden Prime Crysis**

"_**Maximum Armor."**_

Impacting on the ground, my suit absorbed the shock of the landing. I noticed that as was normal with a drop of that height, my suit reserves were depleted, but a few seconds later they had recharged back to full power.

I started running along the uneven terrain jumping over boulders. When I neared the dig site I heard shots coming from ahead of me.

_Damn they must already be there._

"_**Maximum speed"**_

Dashing the last few meters I found a perfect spot overlooking the dig site. In the distance I saw the woman from the transmission running from some kind of drones. I quickly got out my sniper rifle and shot one of the drones while she shot the other with her pistol.

"_**Warning... Critical threat to allied forces detected."**_

I saw something that made me pause. What seemed like robots were putting a colonist on some type of machine that then impaled a colonist. I activated my visor in order to see what they were.

"_**Scanning. . . Threat identified: Geth Trooper" **_

_What the hell are the Geth doing this far from the Veil?_

My rifle cracked as I took a shot at one of the Geth. I then heard more fire coming from up the path and saw that Shepard and Kaiden were coming towards the dig site and were engaging the Geth. I saw no sign of Jenkins.

"Shepard, I got a positive match on the hostiles. Geth" I radioed letting her know what our opposition was

"Copy that Wraith... It seems that we are being joined by Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams."

"... What happened to Jenkins?" I asked after an uncomfortable pause.

"We were ambushed by those damn drones; he never stood a chance."

_Damn, I don't like it when allies die around me. Jenkins had such a long life ahead of him. It was because of things like this that made me join CryNet. _

"I'm sorry about that"

"We can grieve later. We have a beacon to secure"

"Roger, I have you covered. It looks like the beacon isn't in the dig site."

"Alright stay sharp, the Geth haven't come out of the veil for nearly 300 years, who knows what kind of upgrades they have made."

"I'm always sharp Shepard,I haven't survived this long by being sloppy... Heads up Geth incoming!"

I took one down by putting a bullet right through its flashlight head while Shepard hit another with a warp and charged the last one to blow it to pieces with a well placed shotgun shot. I absently wondered if they could dim down their lights because it seemed rather stupid to give your position away with such bright light. _One would think they would be smart enough not to have bright light like that for an optical sensor... Kind of gives away your position... _

"Damn it, the beacon is gone. It looks like we are going to have to move on. You gonna come down there Wraith?" Shepard asked.

"I'm on my way." I got up and ran along the cliff edge until I was above the dig site. "Hey Shep."

The new soldier, Ashley, asked "Well how are you going to get down from there?"

"Argh... you just had to make him didn't you?" Shepard moaned.

I smirked "You know me Shep, I don't like to disappoint."

"_**Maximum power" **_

I jumped, did a back-flip in midair and landed on my feet in front of Shepard. I smirked at the open mouths of Kaiden and Ashley.

"Well you can stand all day here catching flies but I'm going ahead for some recon."

Shepard rolled her eyes at me and said "You just had to show off didn't you?"

"Show off? She asked me how I was going to come down so I showed her."

"Yeah yeah, just go will you. We'll be right behind you."

"I'm going... I'll keep in contact."I turned and started moving ahead of Shepard when she called out

"By the way Wraith you owe me a drink!"

"Technically I got here first. I was waiting for you to show up so I could cover you with my sniper rifle." I said smirking. As I turned and ran up the path. As I neared the top I engaged my cloak.

"_**Cloak engaged"**_

As I followed the path, I went up a hill. What I saw at the top looked like it was from a horror-vid

"Commander looks like the camp was hit hard. There is a lot of fire and debris. Still two buildings standing though." As I scanned the camp for hostiles I spotted something grotesque. "Oh my god. Uh there's some more of those spikes up here and well it seems that they aren't just for psychological war. They seem to have transformed their victims into some kind of robotic Husk."

"Damn, we're almost there. I see them-"

Just then the spikes descended into the ground and the Husks got off of the spikes "Oh god their still alive!" Kaiden called out in disgust.

"Negative lieutenant; these things are dead. They're just machines now. Take them out of their misery." I responded, uncloaking and activating Armor mode. I pulled out my assault rifle I began firing at the husks. One got close and hit me with some kind of electrical blast

"_**Warning energy critical."**_

The blast didn't do any physical damage besides drain my energy reserves and mess up the HUD.I pulled out my knife and stabbed it in the eye and it fell down. Looking around I saw that Shepard had killed the other 2 husks during my little fight with my husk. "Dammit the blast from these things will take out all my energy if I get hit by it!" Damnit... If we come into contact with more of these things, I'm going to need your help. One shock took out my energy reserves.

"You ok?" Shepard asked me concerned.

"I'm fine the blast didn't go through my armor, it seems to have some kind of EMP effect against my nanosuit. We have yet to develop an effective countermeasure to EMP's for the Nanosuit's**.**

"Alright be more careful though Wraith, I wouldn't want to have to explain to CryOps why their top agent died on what was supposed to be a covert pickup."

"HA. I'm not going to die before you get me my drink." I said teasingly.

"What do you mean? I don't owe you a drink! We were at the dig site first!" Shepard retorted.

"Only because I was waiting for you to get there!" I countered

"Uh I hate to interrupt but we should get moving" Kaiden interrupted**, **ending out banter

"Right Wraith. Shut up and get to scouting!" Shepard commanded,with a smug look.

Snapping up to attention "Yes ma'am" I belted out playfully before becoming serious "I'm on my way I'll tell you if I see anything of note." I turned and started lightly jogging on down the path

"Ok, we will check these buildings then follow you. We should be coming up to the spaceport soon, we are going to meet Nihilus there."

"Oh so _now_ you tell me when I'm half way there!Way to keep me in the tactical loop Shep!" I said while moving up the path and activating my cloak. At the top of the hill I was able to look down at the spaceport and I was able to see two figures in the spaceport. Activating my visor mode I zoomed in and saw Nihilus and another Turian talking to each other. My visor got a positive fix on the Turian as Saren Arterius; another Spectre. I noticed that Nihilus seemed to trust Saren as he turned his back on him. I then saw Saren take his pistol and aim it toward Nihilus's unprotected back.

As I went to grab my rifle, my visor was filled with static and my HUD went down. "DAMNIT NOT NOW!" I yelled as every critical system began to malfunction. SECOND then informed me of what was going on._** "Warning, unknown user attempting to seize control. Engaging safety protocols."**_ The visor then cleared enough for me to watch Saren shoot Nihlus in the back of the head. Nihlus was dead long before his body hit the ground. **_"Warning, memory files corrupted. Rebooting all systems now. Searching for unknown user"_ **

"Shepard. Shepard do you read me."

"_**Communication systems offline." **_

I heard shouting behind me "Wraith! Wraith! Whats wrong?" I heard as Shepard ran into my view. _She must have heard me yelling about the malfunction__**.**_

Unable to move I said "I'm not sure! All of a sudden my suit was attacked by some kind of hacker, I think it was an AI. I wasn't able to move and I had to watch as Nihilus got shot in the back by another Spectre."

"_**Source detected" **_came SECOND's voice as a picture of the big Geth flagship displayed on my visor.

"What?" rang out Kaiden's disbelieving voice at the same time as Ashley's confused "Who's Nihilus?"

"Nihilus was a Turian Spectre on this mission Ashley, but more importantly what happened Wraith?"

"_**System Reboot complete" **_I was finally able to move again.

"Man I hope that memory file is still there." I said trying to access the memory.

"_**Warning file corruption detected, attempting to repair file. . . Unable to repair file."**_

"Dammit. That interference caused the feed to corrupt. Lets go down there, I can explain there."

"Very well, move out" came Shepard's order. As we fought our way through more Husks and Geth my mind was on what had happened before at the spaceport. I hardly noticed when Shepard talked with some people hiding in a house. What could have caused such a large interference? Not even an EMP would cause such a reaction. I knew that I would get no answers until I got to a Cradle and sent the data to CryNet.

I came out of my contemplation when we got to Nihilus's body. "Rest in peace, Nihilus Kryik. Your murderer will reap what he has sown." I Intoned, closing his eyes in respect.

Ashley looked at me in surprise "Why would you want to avenge a Turian?" She asked in disbelief.

"I will pretend that I didn't hear that, Chief" I said harshly "I _do not _and _will not_ condone racism in my presence. What does it matter if it's a Turian or a Human? An innocent person's life was cut short by a Friend."

"Hey, I was just surprised that you care for a non human"

I was about to respond when Shepard cut in "We don't have time for this now, we have a beacon to pick up.

"Ma'am" was Ashley's response. I nodded, engaged my cloak and started moving towards the tram. I jumped down to the bottom of the stairs, and took cover behind some low walls on the walkway while Shepard and her team took down two Geth at the top of the stairs.

"_**Maximum power"**_

I pulled out my knife, jumped out from my cover sprinted towards a Destroyer, stabbed it in the head, punched one of the troopers so hard if flew off the walkway. Then I pulled my knife out of the falling Destroyer and threw it at another Geth impaling it in the optics. I pulled out another knife while running to the next wall and slid behind cover before the rest of the Geth could hit me. I saw Shepard running towards me with her crew trailing behind with a look of alarm on her face. "Wraith! What were you thinking? You could have been killed! You don't go taking out two Geth and a Destroyer with a knife!"

"Oh come on, its not that hard if you've taken out three Krogan at the same time with a knife. One of which was a Battlemaster by the way. Besides I never took a hit." I said matter of factly.

"I thought I had told you that you should be careful. You know that I can't see you if you are cloaked. We could have easily hit you with friendly fire!"

"I had every confidence that you could take out two Geth while I was busy with that Destroyer. And can we please get rid of the rest of these Geth before we continue this lovely conversation?" I said, flinching as bullets impacted on the cover I was hiding against.

Shepard rolled her eyes at me and called out "Alright team, lets take these bastards out!" She pulled out her assault rife and returned fire. I pulled out my sniper and started taking Geth down one by one. Kaiden hit a group with a sabotage mine and Ashley did the usual spray-and-pray.

"Alright they are down lets get on that tram" ordered Shepard.

We moved to the tram and Shepard activated the controls. While I was watching the scenery fly by I heard Kaiden clear his throat and say "So Wraith, I noticed that your suit allows you to do all kinds of things. Just what can you do with it?"

"All kinds of stuff. It has three dedicated modes that do different things. The first is Armor mode, that changes the structure of the suit to allow it to absorb or deflect bullets, as well as withstand explosions and impacts from high falls at the cost of energy. The second is Cloak mode, which you no doubt saw makes me invisible to all but the latest in sensor tech. And the third is Power mode. That lets me run and sprint a lot faster than normal as well as gives me strength to rival that of a Krogan. Then there is a situational power mode that SECOND activates when I want to do a power jump or use super strength for one hit when not in power mode. These are usually not as strong as when I'm in a dedicated Power mode. How ever they can be used in conjunction with the other modes. Sprinting also uses this situational power mode. So if I want to do some very fast running I would enter power mode. If I want to jump up to a ledge while cloaked, I cloak, SECOND activates the situational power mode right when I jump and I can get up to a ledge without anyone noticing me." I explained

"Damn that suit pretty much makes you a one man army!" Ashley exclaimed.

"Heh it didn't look like that on Torfan when I found him at gunpoint surrounded by four Batarians." Shepard said.

"Damnit Shepard! How many times do I have to tell you? I had everything under control!"

"Sure didn't seem that way to me. Wraith"

"Argh... A quick change into Strength mode and I would have been able to grab the one in front of me, take his weapon, throw him against the one to the right and throw my knife at the third while shooting the fourth!"

"Wait, Strength mode? Is that the same as Power mode?" Kaiden asked confused.

"No. On Torfan I was using the Nanosuit 1. This is the Nanosuit 2. The first nanosuit had four modes. Cloak, armor, speed and strength. Nanosuit 2 combined Speed and Strength into one mode and added the situational Power mode as well."

"Interesting as this chat is, we are coming up to the station." Shepard said.

We soon arrived at the station and came under attack almost immediately. As we got off the tram Kaiden shouted "Demolition charges! The Geth must have planted them."

SECOND brought up a map with three more charges on it. "Shepard I'm detecting 3 more charges on our way to the beacon! We need to get to them all to defuse them."

"Alright you heard Wraith, lets defuse some bombs."

Kaiden spoke up "Commander if you can cover me I can defuse the bombs, It shouldn't be too hard."

"Alright Kaiden, start by defusing this one. Ashley stay with Kaiden. Wraith you and I will go clear the path while Kaiden defuses the bombs."

"Aye -Aye Commander, Kaiden is safe with me." Ash answered.

"Good idea Shep. I got your back." I followed Shepard up the stairs to an over crossing. Soon we were under fire from Geth on the walkway. She charged some Geth guarding the next bomb while I covered her with my assault rifle. Shepard shot one with her shotgun, hit another with a warp and biotically threw a third into a wall with such force that it died immediately.

"Hey Shepard, what happened to not charging Geth?"

"I had a shotgun. You had a knife."

"Well you certainly can use a shotgun to great effect."

"Now is not the time to admire my use of a shotgun Wraith, we have bombs to defuse."

"Well it seems that we have a long walkway to go up, I think that I have to get closer."

"Wait... what do you mean by closer?"

"_**Maximum Power"**_

With that I jumped up onto a crate and started running and jumping on top of the crates bypassing the third bomb. When I neared the Geth at the end of the walkway I pulled out my knife, jumped onto one, sinking my knife into it. Pulling out my pistol next, I shot another in the head and was about to finish off the last one, only to see it falling already. Turning I saw a grinning Shepard holding an assault rifle still aimed at the Geth.

"Damnit Shepard! That one was mine!"

"Ha! I got it first. Besides I couldn't let you have all the fun."

"Kill stealer..." I grumbled as I walked up to the last bomb and started to defuse it.

"You can defuse bombs?" Shepard asked me in surprise.

"Of course, I have to be able to defuse bombs from time to time. These are rather simple ones but the harder ones SECOND has to take care of." I responded.

"I have to say I am surprised you work with an AI and that the Council actually allows you to use AI. You know how they are regarding them."

"Yeah, in-fact it is only because our AI's are based off of personalities that they allows us to use them. That and that CryNet tested AI tech extensively and proved to the Council that if you treat a AI like anyone else, then they have no reason to 'exterminate' organics. As it is, SECOND isn't a true AI, hes just beneath true sentience but isn't classified as a VI. Hell, SECOND has saved my life a few times now, like when I was infiltrating a Blue Suns base to... ahh I can tell you the story after the mission."

"I will hold you to that. There you are Kaiden. Good. Wraith defused the last bomb and I can see the beacon over there. Lets go get that damn thing."

Kaiden looked at me and said, "So you could have defused those bombs as well?"

I smirked at him "Sure but defusing bombs isn't as much fun."

Kaiden raised his eyebrow at me while Shepard let out a short laugh. "Alright Wraith, Kaiden lets get that beacon."

"Wait here for a moment Shepard. I'm going to go ahead cloaked. I'll tell you what is there and tell you when to make your move."

"Alright Wraith, be a wraith" Shepard responded.

I let out a short laugh and started walking down the ramp towards the beacon.

"_**Cloak engaged"**_

Creeping around the beacon I noticed two spikes with husks on them on either side of the courtyard as well as two Geth on the left. "Shepard," I whispered, "There are two Geth on the left as well as two husks on spikes. I can take out both Geth and get out of the way before the husks can get down. You can then take both husks out."

"Ok Wraith, just give the signal."

I crept toward the Geth and drew my knife. Both get were standing close to each other so I walked between the two and signaled Shepard "Now Shepard!" I stabbed the Geth on my right, spun and slashed the second Geth across the torso and stabbed it again in the head for good measure. I immediately jumped onto a crate and pulled out my assault rifle as the spike was still descending. I riddled the husk even before it got off the spike, turned to see Shepard throw the last husk off of the platform.

"Hey Wraith, What happened to leaving the husks for us?"

"Meh... I was in a good position to kill the last one" I responded as I jumped down and walked toward the beacon. I kept my distance because I knew better than get close to untested alien tech. "SECOND run a scan of the beacon see what you can find."

"_**Scanning. . ."**_

I turned to Shepard just as she finished talking with the Normandy. Just as I reached her SECOND picked something up. _**"Warning electrical and neurological activity detected." **_

I spun around to see Kaiden being dragged towards the beacon by an invisible force. Before I could do anything, Shepard ran past me and pulled Kaiden away from the beacon, only to take his place. I heard Ashley say not to touch her as it was too dangerous. I knew that I couldn't do anything.

"_**Warning beacon overload imminent."**_

With that the beacon exploded and Shepard was thrown away. I rushed to her and did a basic medical scan, while Ashley contacted the Normandy and told them about the beacon overload. The scan showed that she was just unconscious, nothing that Dr. Chakwas the Normandy's medical officer wouldn't be able to handle. We waited for the Normandy to land and when it did we carried Shepard to the med bay, the words_**Primary Objective: Failed**_ flashing on my HUD the entire time.

_**AN: alright now I hope I explained the Nanosuit's modes in this chapter. I know that there is no Power Mode in Crysis 2 but there is in my story. Also SECOND is not a True AI, he is near sentient but is not sentient, as such he isn't a AI but also isn't a VI. As it is CryNet is liscenced by the Council to work with AI. **_

_**As always, Many Thanks to DN7 and shadowinferno as without them this story would not be as good or would not have been written at all. **_

_**Chapter 3 is coming along well. I will most likely have it uploaded before sunday.**_


	3. Chapter 3: A Traitor Revealed

**_Disclamer: I do not own Mass effect or Crysis._**

After boarding the Normandy, I was immediately swarmed by Anderson to explain as I was unofficially the next most experienced soldier on the ground team, even if I wasn't part of the Alliance. "Wraith, what the hell happened down there?" he asked as we started walking towards the elevator

"A beacon overload, SECOND was running a non-invasive scan of the beacon while I was going to talk to Shepard. It detected electrical and neurological activity coming from the beacon. When I turned around I saw Lieutenant Alenko being pulled by some kind of force emanating from the beacon. Before I could do anything, Shepard ran past me and pulled Alenko out of the way, only to take his place. After going into some kind of fit, I can only guess was a vision of some kind was transferred, SECOND informed me that the beacon was about to overload. A second after that the beacon exploded, knocking Shepard unconscious." I said entering the elevator

"That's unfortunate. We needed that beacon. And what happened to Nihilus?" Anderson asked.

"Betrayed by a fellow Spectre, Saren Arterius. I saw it happen, but was unable to prevent it due to, apparently, the Geth flagship attempting to gain control of my suit. SECOND however was able to fight off the intrusion after Nihilus was dead."

"Saren that bastard. We need to tell that to the council."

"Unfortunately it's not going to be that easy, especially if you are there Captain. You know as well as I do that there is too much bad blood between the two of you. We are going to need some solid evidence."

"Doesn't your suit have videos allowing you to see what happened?"

"Corrupted by the intrusion. We aren't going to get any evidence from that. I'm going to see if CryTell has anything that might lead to some solid evidence on Saren. I'll be in my office Captain." I said leaving the elevator.

I walked to the med-bay and asked Dr. Chakwas when Shepard would be waking up. She told me that it would be about 15 hours until she would wake up. I left and walked past the sleeper pods, entering the office that was assigned to me. (AN: I know that there is no room here in the game, but I added one for the story) It didn't have much, just a desk with a secure computer that was linked to CryNet and a bed. I took off my helmet, and decided to go to rest until Shepard woke up.

I woke up nine hours later and decided to start looking for evidence against Saren. I didn't find anything and decided to go visit Shepard. As I entered the med-bay I saw Kaiden sitting on a bed next to Shepard. "How long have you been here Kaiden?" I asked sitting down next to him.

"I just came in half an hour ago."

"Good, I hope you took a break before coming here.

"Yeah I did. It's all my fault that the mission failed. Me and my damn curiosity."

I had expected Kaiden to blame himself so I was ready to reassure him "Maybe it was your fault that the mission failed. But I think that in this case you had no way of knowing that the beacon would have done what it did. It was an unforeseen and unfortunate consequence that no one could have predicted."

"Yeah, but I didn't see you rush on in to check out the beacon." Kaiden said bitterly.

"True, I didn't do so because I have had bad experience with alien artifacts, so I knew not to get too close. You however, have no such experience. And I am sure that if something like this happens again, you will know better." I said.

"_**Brainwave activity rising, Shepard is waking up" **_SECOND informed me as I finished.

"Ahh it seems that Shepard is waking up." I said to Kaiden as she began to stir.

"Doctor? Doctor Chakwas? I think she's waking up." Kaiden called out as Shepard sat up.

Chakwas came towards us and said "You had us worried there, Shepard. How are you feeling?"

"Like the morning after shore leave. How long was I out?" She responded.

"About 15 hours."

"It seems that the beacon overloaded and knocked you out Shepard." I said

"Its my fault. I must have triggered some kind of security field when I approached it. You had to push me out of the way." Kaiden said, still blaming himself. _Shesh, the guy needs to give himself a break _I thought wryly.

"You had no way to know what would happen." Shepard reassured Kaiden.

"You see Kaiden? It wasn't your fault." I said trying to hammer home that it wasn't his fault. "I tell you Shepard, Kaiden has no doubt been blaming himself for ages."

"Besides, we don't know if that was what set it off." Chakwas said.

"Yeah that overload blew up the beacon. We had to carry you back to the ship. Do me a favor Shepard, don't get yourself knocked out on a mission again. I swear almost every time we meet I end up carrying you out" I sighed, as my good mood immediately evaporated when I mentioned that as I thought of Mindior, "Although I wish that the first two times never happened."

Shepard immediately picked up on my bad mood, as she probably also remembered Mindior and Akuze. As we both sank into the past, Dr. Chakwas decided to change the topic of the discussion. "Well back on medical subjects, it seems that you are physically fine, but I noticed an increase in your rapid eye movement. Usually associated with intense dreaming."

"I saw, something. Death. Destruction. Nothing is clear."

"The beacon must have imprinted a vision into your brain." I said _if only it didn't explode, we might have been able to reverse engineer the technology, _I thought

"Well I better add this to my report. And as Wraith said- Oh Captain Anderson." She said, breaking off as Anderson entered the med-bay.

"Hows our XO holding up doctor?" He asked.

"All scans look normal. I'd say the commander is going to be fine." Chakwas responded.

"Glad to hear it. Shepard, Wraith, I need to speak with you, in private."

"Aye, aye, Captain. I'm in the mess if you need me."

After Kaiden and Chakwas left the med-bay, Anderson said "You sureyou're ok Commander? It sounds like the beacon hit you pretty hard."

"No matter how many times its happened, it never gets any easier loosing people under my command."

"Jenkins wasn't your fault, you did the best you could." Anderson reassured her.

"It proves your human Shepard. If you didn't care about the men under your command, what kind of person would you be?" I said.

Shepard seemed slightly reassured by that and asked "Where's Gunnery Chief Williams?"

"Last I saw her she was in the mess." I said.

"I figured we could use her, so shes been reassigned to the Normandy."

"Williams is a good soldier, she deserves it." Shepard said pleased.

"Lieutenant Alenko agrees with you, so I added her to the crew." Anderson reasoned.

"You said you needed to see us in private Captain?" Shepard asked getting down to business.

"Yes Commander. At the moment things look bad. A Spectre dead, the beacon destroyed and we are going to be accusing another Spectre, one of the councils best of treason, not to mention the Geth are invading." Anderson said.

"I didn't do anything wrong, Captain. Shouldn't the council see that?" Shepard asked slightly worried.

"Oh the Council won't blame this on you Shepard" I reassured her. "The problem is Saren. They won't like us accusing him of going rogue, not without evidence. Evidence we don't have yet. The Council and Crynet are on rather good terms, so me being there should have them at least consider the possibility. However we will need real proof that Saren has gone rogue." I said.

"A rogue Specter's trouble. Saren isn't the Councils best for nothing. Not to mention that he hates humans." Anderson added.

"Hates humans? Why does he hate humans?" Shepard asked.

"Thought the systems Alliance was spreading to aggressively." I said.

"Well I don't think that he came to Eden Prime because he hates humans." Shepard said.

"No he didn't, most likely he came because of the beacon. Besides how did he ally himself with the Geth?" Anderson asked.

"I agree that he came here for the beacon." I said, "As for allying himself with the Geth, I would say he promised the Geth something, maybe the beacon. Besides, there is something strange about that ship; it didn't seem to be of Geth origin. Perhaps it was able to attack my suit because it was more advanced, but there was something wrong about it."

"You were there just before that beacon self destructed Commander. Did you see anything that could give us a clue as to what Saren could be after?" Anderson asked Shepard.

"I saw, some kind of vision I think... There were synthetics, not Geth though, slaughtering people, butchering them."

"We need to report this to the council Shepard." Anderson said.

"What are we going to say? I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked sarcastically.

"Shepard, we don't know what was in that beacon. Lost Prothean technology, weapon schematics, messages. We need to find out what that was." Anderson explained.

"The Alliance doesn't have the ability to find out. The council might, if only through an Asari mind meld. CryNet does, but at the moment its still in prototype stages. Only possible for one with a nanosuit." I said. "However, if my guess is right, the only thing in that beacon was a warning. Shepard, could that vision have been a warning?" I asked.

"Yes it could have been" she said.

"As it is, Sarens attack on Eden prime was an act of war. He needs to be brought to justice." Anderson said.

"I'll find someway to bring him down" Shepard said resolutely.

I let out a mirthless laugh "Hah, easier said than done. He's a Spectre. As long as he hasn't officially gone rogue he can do anything he damn well pleases. That's why we need evidence. We need to prove that he was behind the attack on Eden prime, and so far, we don't have any evidence, except that I saw him kill Nihilus. And that's not compelling enough evidence."

"So we prove Saren's gone rogue and the Council will revoke Saren' Spectre status." Shepard concluded.

"Yes. I'll contact the ambassador, hopefully he can get us an audience with the council. We should meet with him as soon as we reach the Citadel."

"We should be getting close. Head up to the bridge and tell Joker to bring us into dock." Anderson said walking away.

"So Wraith, CryNet has nothing on Saren that we can use as evidence?" Shepard asked me after Anderson left.

"No, I checked CryTell before you woke up. There was nothing." I responded.

"So I've heard a lot you talk about CryOps and CryTell, I assume that those are subsections of CryNet?" Shepard asked.

"Thats right. CryNet itself is a subsidiary of Alpha Tech and Science Incorporated. CryNet is then split into three parts, CryOps, CryTell and CryDev. They stand for CryNet Operations, CryNet Intelligence and CryNet Development. They all work off of each other."

"CryOps consist of the Phantoms and the Inquisitors. The Phantoms, like me, are the Infiltrators who work as a kind of special freelancer. They are hired by governments to perform assassinations, infiltrations and the like. However we will only take on missions that don't harm innocents. The Inquisitors are like the Asari Justicars and like the old SWAT teams of the 21st century. They work against crime throughout the galaxy. Any information that the Phantoms or Inquisitors receive they send to Crytell, and any technology scans and analysis is sent to CryDev."

"CryTell provides CryOps with intelligence as they perform their different tasks and missions throughout the galaxy. CryTell also acts as a kind of information broker to the different governments. If CryTell receives any technology in their line of work they send it to CryDev."

"CryDev is the development part of CryNet. CryDev produces tech for CryOps, as well as reverse engineering for tech that comes in from CryOps or CryTell. CryDev are the ones who produce the Nanosuit's, however in order to prevent leaks, the production of the Nanosuit is done in parts and those that make one part don't know what the other parts are. These are then put together later. In fact the only one who knows what all the parts of the Nanosuit are is the head of CryDev, the Director of CryNet and Neil Teems the founder of Alpha Tech."

"So there are the heads of CryOps, CryTell and CryDev and a Director of CryNet?" Shepard asked me.

"Well the Director of CryNet is voted in by the different heads and Teems. Being the Director just gives you more oversight over CryNet in its entirety." I responded.

"So whose the Head of CryNet now?" Shepard asked me.

I smirked at her and said "I am."

She gaped at me for a few seconds and then said surprised "I thought you were just the Head CryOps Agent!"

"They are usually the same. Just no one knows it." I responded.

"And what head is the Director of CryNet?" she asked me.

"The Head of CryOps is the Director of CryNet." I said taking off my mask. Smirking at the face she was making.

"You're Martin Duncan!" She said in shock.

"I was voted in years back. The only one not to vote for me was... well... me." I said.

"Wow, I didn't know that." she said still coming out of her shock.

"I know," I said seriously "And that is secret information, I hope that this information won't leave this room, unless talking with me or with someone approved by me in a secure room"

"You got it Martin." She said seriously.

"Good. And you should call me Wraith when in public." I said, putting my mask back on. "Well lets go tell Joker that its time to dock on the Citadel.

"Wait, this room isn't secure." Shepard said.

"It was when I told you, I turned on a bug scrambler before." I said holding up a small device the size of a 21st century flash drive.

"Ahh"

We left the med-bay and walked up to the Bridge. As we walked I asked myself _Why did I tell Shepard all that? I know that she wont betray me but what made me tell Shepard that?_ As we passed Ashley, she called out.

"Hey Wraith!"

"Yes?" I asked.

"Well I was wondering, why didn't CryNet release the nanosuit to the alliance?" She asked. " We could have definitely used that kind of tech to defend Eden Prime"

"That's an easy question to answer. Too powerful. If this kind of tech got out, well then it would take out the edge that we have. We did release the Ghost armor, but that hardly uses any of the tech used in the nanosuit." I said.

"Really Ghost armor? What's that?" Ashley asked intrigued.

"Ghost armor is made from Coltan-Titanium which is a very strong metal made by CryNet. It is very light and very strong. My Knife, the CryBlade is made out of Coltan-Titanium in a high density mass effect field." I explained.

"Wow, I wouldn't mind having a set of that armor." Ashley said.

"Good luck buying some, Ghost armor is very expensive. Its used by the STG, Spectres and some Alliance N7 Operatives, heh but only if they have the money." I said with a slight laugh. "But now, we really have to get up to the bridge."

"Right Wraith, Commander." Ashley said, nodding to both of us.

As we walked on towards the bridge Shepard said to me "Well, it seems that you got yourself an admirer, Wraith."

I looked at her in surprise "What? What do you mean?"

She smirked at me "Don't tell me you didn't notice? She was more interested in you than in the armor."

I sighed "I get that sometimes. Women are always attracted to me because of my feats in battle, usually soldiers. Besides she isn't my type."

"What is your type Wraith?" Shepard asked me.

"Uh- I really haven't exactly been looking around since Lynna died. Those who were interested wanted Wraith the CryOps Phantom, not the man behind the mask. Of course it doesnt't help matters that I haven't shown my real face to many people outside of CryNet. Besides they wouldn't understand me and why I chose the life I did." I said, uncomfortable with the topic.

Shepard noticed and didn't say anything until we reached the bridge.

"Good timing Commander." Joker said as we arrived "I was just about to bring us into the Citadel. See that taxpayer money at work. As we docked at the Citadel, I contacted the Head of CryTell.

"Axel, Its Wraith." I said using my codename in case I was overheard on a secure channel. _Heh secure only means it takes a second longer for a hacker to get into. _I mused

"Wraith, what can I do for you?" He asked me.

"Still no Intel on Saren?" I asked.

"No, we haven't found anything."

"Alright, if you find anything send it to me. We really need this Intel, go through the Shadow Broker if need be, usual method." I said.

"Very well. Up to how much should we pay?" he asked me.

"It doesn't matter, just get that Intel." I responded.

"Right. I'll send you anything we get." he said.

"Alright, I need to get going." I closed the comm channel as we prepared to depart the Normandy.

As we entered the Human embassy we heard Ambassador Udina finishing up a conversation with the Council. When they finished he turned to Anderson. "Captain Anderson. I see you brought half your crew with you." He said irritated.

"Just the ground team from Eden Prime. In case you had any questions." Anderson responded.

"I have the mission reports. I assume they're accurate?" Udina asked.

"They are. Sounds like you convinced the Council to give us and audience." Anderson said.

"They were not happy about it." Udina stated.

"Yea, that's a no brainer Ambassador. We are accusing their top agent of treason." I cut in.

"Wraith. I did not expect you to be here." The Ambassador said

"It's the truth though, Saren did betray the council." Shepard interjected.

"Settle down, Commander. You did more than enough to jeopardize your candidacy for the Spectres. The mission on Eden prime ended up with Nihilus dead and the beacon destroyed."

"Udina, we all here know that that was Saren's fault, not hers." I said.

"Then we better hope the C-sec investigation turns up evidence to support our accusations." Udina said.

"C-sec? Pfft... Please... We both know that anything that Saren does is classified due to him being a Spectre. However the CryNet investigation may turn up more fruitful evidence."

"The Council would not take evidence from another source very seriously Wraith. Come with me, Captain. I want to go over a few things before the hearing." Anderson said, before leaving with Anderson.

"And thats why I hate politicians." Ashley commented.

"Wraith, is what he said true about the Council not taking evidence from another source very seriously." Shepard asked me worried.

"Yes. As far as he knows." I said.

"Come, we better get to the hearing." Shepard said.

When we arrived at the Council chambers we saw a C-sec officer arguing with Executor Pallin "Saren's hiding something, give me more time. Stall them!" The officer said.

"Stall the Council? Don't be rediculous! Your investigation is over, Garrus."

The officer, Garrus turned to us. "Commander Shepard? Garrus Vakerian. I was the officer in charge of the C-sec investigation into Saren." He told us.

"Come across anything I should know about?" Shepard asked him.

"Saren's a Spectre. Most of his activities are classified. I couldn't find anything solid." he answered. "But I know that he's up to something. Like you humans say, I feel it in my gut." I smiled at his use of a human expression.

"I think the Council's ready for us, Commander." Kaiden interrupted.

"Good luck, Shepard. Maybe they'll listen to you." Garrus said as we walked away.

"Without evidence? Fat chance" Kaiden said.

We found Anderson standing at the bottom of the stairs leading to the Council. "The hearings already started. Come on." he said.

As we reached the top of the stairs we heard the Asari councilor, Tevos, say "The Geth attack is a matter of some concern. But there is nothing to indicate Saren was involved in any way." Just then my omni tool beep quietly. I grinned reading the message, as the Turian councillor Valarn said "The investigation by Citadel Security has turned up no evidence to support your charge of treason."

"Actually Councillors, CryTell has a lead." I said walking up to the podium. "Phantom agent Wraith, at your service." I introduced my self.

"And why should the Council take evidence from you?" Saren said condensendingly from his giant holographic display

"A lead you say?" the Salarien councilor, Malarnasked.

"Yes. If you would wait before making a decision, I will follow up on this lead." I said.

"And what is this so called lead?" Saren asked sneering at me.

"One does not tell the one you are investigating about possible leads. Don't you agree Councillors?" I asked.

"Indeed." Tevos said, "We will refrain on making a decision until CryNet's investigation has been ended."

"You cannot be serious? That is a human. He will most likely make his evidence up!" Saren said incredulously.

"CryNet has helped us in the past, and always given us good intelligence for low costs. We should at least allow them to perform their own investigation." Valarn said.

"This meeting is adjourned." Tevos said ending the session.

"What were you thinking Wraith?" Udina asked angrily.

"Watch your tone Udina, I just probably saved your fat from the fire!" I answered.

"What is this intelligence you received Wraith?" Shepard asked me.

"I can't tell you Shepard. I have to do this alone or Saren might say that we changed the results of the investigation." I said.

"I am the Human Ambassador Wraith! I demand that you tell me that lead!" Udina almost yelled at me.

"I don't answer to you Udina. I only answer to the CryNet Director." I retorted with a big shit eating grin on my face made all the bigger by the fact that he couldn't see it. I turned to Shepard. "Shepard, use this time to look for evidence on your own. We can meet again before the next hearing." With that I turned and walked away, heading towards C-sec where I knew my lead would be. As I entered C-sec I immediately saw 3 C-Sec officers and a Krogan in a heated discussion. The Krogan then saw me and immediately smirked. He started walking towards me, leaving the C-Sec officers behind.

"Wraith! I didn't expect to meet you here." He said.

"Good to see you to Wrex. I cant believe that you would still remember my sign from all those years ago." I said referring to the sign on my suit indicating who I am.

"Ha, any one travelling the galaxy would be wise to not forget that sign, Wraith. So what brings you here?" he asked me.

"You actually. I'm looking for evidence against Saren. CryTell told me that you could help." I said.

"CryTell continues to amaze me. Indeed I can help you. It seems that I've been hired to kill the owner of Choras Den. A man named Fist. He did something rather stupid." Wrex said.

"I assume that by stupid you mean betraying the Shadow Broker?" I concluded.

"A Quarian showed up here on the citadel. She was on the run and wanted to trade information for a safe place to hide." Wrex said.

"So she went to Fist, who promised to arrange a meeting with her and the Shadow Broker. But instead contacted Saren." I said "How am I doing?"

"Hah, you always were smart Wraith." Wrex laughed. "Unlike Fist who is greedy as he got a small fortune from Saren."

"So Saren had to get that information from the Quarian because she had information that connected him to the Geth. This is exactly what I need!" I exclaimed.

"Did the Council not believe you?" Wrex asked me.

"They haven't come to a decision yet. I was able to talk them into prolonging judgment until my own investigation was over." I said smirking.

"It seems that having a good relationship with the Council pays off after all." Wrex said smirking.

"That it does. Now I assume that Fist has the Quarian?" I asked and Wrex nodded. "Good so how about we go pay Choras Den a visit? You get to kill Fist, and I get the Quarian."

"I like that idea Wraith, it will be fun." Wrex said excited.

"Well no time like the present, eh Wrex?" I asked starting to walk the long way to Choras Den. "So tell me, what have you been doing lately Wrex?"

"Oh you know Wraith. Just taking a few missions here and there. What about you? I heard something about a Phantom on Eden prime." Wrex asked me.

"Yeah. That was me. That mission was supposed to be a simple shakedown run and covert pickup. Of course there was a higher motive." I said.

"Higher motive? Did they try to get more CryNet secrets out of you?" Wrex asked.

"Oh no. Nothing like that. Just something that I found suspicious was that Commander Shepard was there, along with a Turian Spectre." I said.

"Yeah so? Whats so strange about that?" Wrex asked me.

"You really aren't too big on Covert Ops are you Wrex?" I asked amused.

"Covert Ops? Bah you need to go straight up and kill your enemy. Not sneak around." Wrex responded.

"Well I found it strange that they would send such a well known person on a covert operation. I also found strange that it was a Spectre on board as the Normandy was a Human/Turian project not a Human/Council project. It turns out that Shepard was a Spectre candidate." I said as we came up to the Upper Markets of the Ward.

"You knew?" A new voice cut in. We turned to see Shepard and her squad standing near us. "You knew that I was a Spectre candidate and you didn't tell me?" She said with her hands on her hips.

"I only found out a few minutes before you. Besides I couldn't exactly tell you with Nihilus standing right next to me could I?" I said justifying myself.

"Argh. So are you going to introduce your friend? I thought that you were going after a lead on Saren not chatting away with old friends. Here we are working hard. Actually standing near our next clue and you are chatting away with an old friend hardly working!."

"Yeah of course. Why would I be doing anything else?" I asked cheekily. "Anyway this is Urdnot Wrex. He was my lead and now I am well on my way for new evidence. What lead are you following?"

"That C-Sec officer Garrus apparently has a lead. We were going to find him at that med-clinic." She said. I looked at Wrex and saw him nod at me significantly.

"Well I guess we can join you then." I said. "Come on Wrex."

"So Wraith, what did you learn?" Shepard asked me.

"I can't tell you that Shepard. I can't risk the Council thinking that we changed the results." I said smirking under my mask.

"Why do I get the feeling that you just aren't telling me to annoy me?" Shepard asked.

"I'm hurt Shepard. I would only do such a thing if I could get a laugh out of it. Tell me... am I laughing or smiling?" I asked, grinning like mad under my mask.

"How the hell am I supposed to know? You have a goddamn mask on!" Shepard said heatedly.

"Are they always like that?" Wrex asked Kaiden behind me.

"All the damn time, Wrex. They were arguing in the middle of a fight on Eden Prime." Kaiden responded.

"I heard that Kaiden." Shepard said.

"Besides we weren't arguing Kaiden. We were discussing my tactics!" I said.

"And what did we find out about your tactics Wraith?" Shepard asked me.

"That they are totally kick ass." I said smirking at her.

"No they are not Wraith. Charging headfirst into Geth is not a kick ass tactic. It's the fastest way of getting killed." Shepard said.

"Bah, charging headfirst into the enemy is always the best move Shepard" Wrex interjected.

"As much as I would like to continue discussing my awesome tactics, I think we've arrived." I said noticing that we were standing in front of the Medical clinics door.

As the door opened we heard a woman say "I didn't tell anyone. I swear!" I immediately saw a woman surrounded by five thugs. I also noticed the C-sec officer Garrus hiding out of sight of the thugs. One of the thugs then said "That was smart doc. Now if Garrus comes around you stay smart. Keep your mouth shut or we'll- Who are you?" he shouted noticing us and taking the Doctor as a hostage.

"Let her go" Shepard said, as pulled out my pistol. Garrus then turned the corner and shot the thug holding the Doctor in the head. _Nice shot._

"_**Cloak Engaged" **_

I immediately cloaked and jumped over a low wall holstering my pistol and taking out my knife. As Shepard and her team started a small firefight with the thugs I snuck behind them and uncloaked.

"_**Maximum Power"**_

Relying on the element of surprise I stabbed one of the thugs while grabbing another by the neck. Pulling out my Knife I threw the thug into another with such force that both of their necks broke with a sickening crack, while switching my grip on my knife to be able to throw it. I turned and threw the knife at the last thug who was just turning to look at his dead friends when my knife hit him in the neck, protruding out on the other side.

"Damnit Wraith. That's exactly what I was talking about. You just charge off head on. I could have hit you!" Shepard exclaimed pissed.

"Ha, you're just annoyed that I took your kills." I said laughing.

"Bah" Shepard turned to Garrus and the Doctor.

"Perfect timing, Shepard. Gave me a clear shot at that bastard." Garrus said.

"Glad I could help" Shepard said.

"Just be careful. You could have hit the doctor." I cautioned.

"That's true. I just acted." Garrus said sheepishly.

"Sometimes that's a good thing." I said "Just make sure you have a clear shot next time."

"Right. Dr. Michel? Are you hurt?" Garrus asked the doctor.

"No I'm okay. I'm glad you came when you did though." She answered.

"Why were they threatening you? Who do... _did_ they work for?" Shepard asked.

"They worked for Fist. They wanted to keep me from telling Garrus about the Quarian." Michel answered.

"The one I told you about Wraith." Wrex said.

"Damnit Wrex! You weren't supposed to say that!" I exclaimed as Shepard looked at me.

"Uh... Oops?" Wrex said grinning.

"I don't believe it. I just don't believe it. You did that on purpose didn't you?" I said.

"She must be able to link Saren to the Geth. There is no way the council can ignore this!" Garrus interjected before Shepard could say anything.

"Yeah, and Fist has her. It looks like we are all going to get Fist." I said.

"This is your show Shepard. But I want to take Saren down just as much as you. I'm coming with you!" Garrus said.

"Welcome aboard Garrus" Shepard welcomed Garrus.

"Lets do this. We are going to have to hit Choras Den hard." I said walking out of the clinic.

"You know Wraith, what you did in the clinic was exactly what I was talking about. You charged headfirst into that. We could have shot you!" Shepard exclaimed, brining up the subject again.

"I had every confidence that you could aim properly." I said.

"Yes but that isn't the point." Shepard said.

"You have to admit though, what Wraith did was very impressive... for a non-Krogan that is." Wrex said.

"See? At least someone likes my style!" I said pleased.

"I'm not sure if having a Krogan like your style is a good thing. Most Krogan styles don't work with non-Krogan." Shepard deadpanned.

"Well I for one found it amazing what you did Wraith. You took down four people in as many seconds." Ashley complemented me.

Shepard glanced at me. Remembering our chat on the Normandy I quickly changed topics "So what will we be facing in Choras Den?" I asked after clearing my throat.

"A lot of thugs like at the clinic, at least one Krogan maybe more." Wrex answered me.

"Interesting. This shouldn't be too hard" I said as we neared Choras Den. "Woah why are there two dead Turians here?" I asked noticing two bodies lying on the path.

"That was me." Shepard said. "They were Saren's assassins trying to kill me."

"It seems they didn't to a very good job." I remarked. "SECOND tactical options."

"_**Scanning area. . ." **_Second said as he brought up a map of Choras Den.

"_**Threats identified. 10 Humans, armed with rudimentary weapons and armor. One Krogan armed with Shotgun. **_

_**Tactical options. Full on assault of Choras Den with support from Shepard. Take down Krogan. Shepard assault Humans."**_

"Alright then." I said. "Shepard, there are about 10 humans in there. They are not armed well, nor do they have good armor. The single most dangerous one in there is the Krogan."

"Alright. What are our options?" Shepard asked me.

I brought up the map on my omni tool. "Apparently the best option is for us to assault the bar head on. You and your team can take out the humans, while I can kill the Krogan. You shouldn't have a problem as they don't have any good weapons, but be careful of them trying to focus fire to pin you down." I said.

"Ah so now we are going to do the famous Wraith charge tactic." Shepard said wryly. "Alright lets do this. Wrex, you and I will go in first. Use your shotgun. Kaiden just support us with your tech powers. Garrus go in last, use your sniper, hit them from afar. Wraith will do his thing, so try not to shoot him." Shepard said.

"Gee thanks" I said dryly.

"Alright. 3...2...1...GO!" Shepard shouted as she followed Wrex through the door.

"_**Maximum Armor"**_ I followed Shepard, and immediately jumped up on the stage where a thug was standing. He shot at me a few times but only hit me twice before I threw him off the stage. **_"Warning low Energy" _**SECOND informed me. As I waited for full energy I found the Krogan bouncer walking around the stage towards Shepard's team to hit them from behind. Just as my energy reached full, he started charging towards Garrus. Garrus turned towards the Krogan with shock on his face._** "Warning Threat to ally Detected. Maximum Power" **_I jumped, pulling out my Knife and landed on the Krogan. Before he could react my knife slid underneath his crest and I pulled it off. He screamed until I stabbed him again, this time piercing his brain.

"Sorry about that Garrus. I wasn't expecting him to try and flank us." I apologized.

"No problem" Garrus said weakly, obviously a bit shocked by the carnage that occurred right before him.

"Hey Wraith, was it really necessary to pull off his crest?" Shepard asked me, looking a little green in the face

"I wasn't aiming for it. My knife just accidentally slid right in that spot." I said sheepishly.

"Remind me not to get on your bad side Wraith." Wrex said shivering slightly.

"So Shepard, all hostiles down?" I asked.

"Yeah they are all dead." She answered.

"Alright, lets go get Fist." I said.

As we walked through a door leading to Fist's private rooms we came face to face with two warehouse workers, who pulled guns on us. "Stop right there! Don't come any closer!"

"Warehouse workers? All the real guards must be dead." Garrus said.

"Stay back or we'll shoot." One said nervously.

"This would be a good time to find somewhere else to work." Shepard said dryly.

"Yeah. Yeah, right. That's a good idea." One of them said, and the other said "I never liked Fist anyway."

"It would have been faster to kill them." Wrex commented.

"Wrex, Wrex. You should know that killing people isn't always the answer." I said to him.

As we entered Fists office we heard him say "Why do I have to do everything myself? Time to die little soldiers." Two turrets came up out of the floor on either side of him and started aiming at me.

"Son of a bitch." I swore, running to cover.

"_**Maximum armor" **_

As the bullets impacted my suit, my energy fell rapidly. Just before I got into cover my energy ran out and three bullets hit me in my shoulder. _**"Warning user damage detected. Administering morphine. Initiating Nanocell reconstruction. Suit breach detected, repairing." **_SECOND informed me.

"Wraith are you alright?" Shepard asked my worried.

"Bah I'll be good, I have to wait for it to heal. You are going to have to take Fist out without me." I gritted out.

"Right." Shepard said "Take him down!"

As the pain in my shoulder disappeared SECOND locked down the suit around my shoulder preventing me from moving it. Shepard was hitting Fist with shot after shot with her shotgun, while Garrus overloaded one of the turrets. Wrex charged the last one and Kaiden overloaded it leaving Wrex to finish it off, as one of Shepard's shots went through fists shields and hit him in the leg.

"Alright don't kill me I surrender" Fist shouted as we walked up to him on the floor.

"Tell me where the Quarian is and I won't have to shoot you in the kneecaps." Shepard threatened him, aiming her gun at his knees.

"She's not here. I don't know where she is. That's the truth!" Fist said.

"Elevated heat beat, rapid breathing, not to mention that he has to know where she is. He is _so_ lying." I said.

"Put a round in his leg, see if he talks." Shepard told me.

"With pleasure." I said taking out my pistol.

"Alright, alright! I don't know where she is, but I know where you can find her. She said that she would only deal with the Shadow Broker himself." He said quickly.

"And since she didn't know that no one meets the Shadow Broker face to face, you sent her somewhere to be taken by Saren's men." I finished for him.

"Tell me where that meeting is before I blow your lying head off!" Shepard said heatedly pointing her gun in his face.

"Here on the Wards. The back ally by the markets. She's supposed to meet them right now." Fist said panicked.

"Alright, lets go. Wrex get rid of that trash we have to get there, now." I said.

"Wait, What?" Shepard asked as Wrex took out his shotgun and blasted Fist's head off.

"Now is not the time people. We have a Quarian to save." I said. Running out of the room I encountered the bar full of more thugs. "Damn Shepard more thugs, I'm going to go past them. Meet up with me at that ally when your done." I told Shepard.

"_**Cloak engaged."**_

I ran past the thugs and out of the bar. I heard gunfire behind me but payed it no attention. I activated Power mode and ran to the alley. Just as I got there I saw a Quarian throw a grenade at two Salarians in armor and a Turian. I sprinted down taking out my knife and pistol. I ran past the Turian slashing his neck in the process. Picked up a Salarian and threw him into the other Salarian, shooting him in the process. Just as I was about to kill the last Salarian, a gunshot rang out and the Salarian fell down with a hole in is head. I turned to see Garrus holding a still smoking sniper rifle in his hands. "Damnit Garrus. First it was Shepard, now you are also stealing my kills. Is this entire team made up of kill stealers?" I exclaimed.

"Fist set me up!" The Quarian exclaimed "I knew I couldn't trust him."

"Then why did you go to him" Wrex asked.

"Wrex!" Shepard said warningly before turning to the Quarian. "Don't worry about Fist."

"Yeah, having your head blown off by a Krogan is not the best way to run a buisness." I said dryly.

"Then I guess there are two things to thank you for. Who are you?" The Quarian asked.

"My names Shepard. I'm looking for evidence to prove Saren's a traitor." Shepard responded.

"Then I can repay you for saving my life. But we should go somewhere safe." The Quarian said.

"Of course we will take you to the human embassies miss. . ." Shepard said.

"Tali'Zorah nar Rayya" Tali responded.

"CryOps Phantom Wraith." I introduced myself to Tali. "I am conducting an investigation on Saren on behalf of CryNet and the Citadel council. I understand that you wish to get to safety, but I require this information as soon as possible. If you don't mind I will download the data from your omni tool and be on my way." I said.

"Wraith? What are you doing?" Shepard asked me.

"I have to bring this information in separately Shepard. That is the only way. Now Miss Zorah? The data?" I prompted.

"Very well, you may download the data." Tali said slightly confused.

"_**File located. Downloading. . .**_

_**Download complete."**_

"Thank you Miss Zorah. Shepard. I will see you at the hearing. I will wait for you to arrive. Try not to take to long" I said before cloaking and walking away towards the Citadel Tower.

I smirked as I heard Shepard mutter "Show off" as I left.

"SECOND play that audio file."

"_**Playing file"**_

"Eden prime was a major victory. The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the conduit." Came Saren's voice. "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Came another that I didn't recognize.

"SECOND, Voice analysis of the second person please."

"_**Analysis. . . **_

_**Matching voice print to CryNet Databases. . . **_

_**Match found. Asari. Matriarch Benezia."**_

_An Asari Matriarch. Great. _"SECOND open a comm channel to the Council.

"_**Opening comm channel"**_

"This is CryOps Phantom Wraith. I have finished my investigation." I said.

"Very well Wraith. Come up immediately, we will see what this evidence is and make a decision about Saren." came Tevos' answer.

As I was standing in the elevator leading up to the council chambers I got a call from Derek Antonov, the head of CryDev. "Hey Eiliam. I got something for you."

"Oh? What is it?" I asked curious.

"We were able to get a upgrade for the nanosuit. Now it can analyze samples in the field and incorporate useful things." He responded.

"Wow. That could be really useful." I said impressed.

"Yeah. Get to the CryOps Station in the Exodus Cluster, it will be waiting for you there. The Origin is in the dock. Along with the rest of Raven squad." He said.

"Sure thing Derek. Oh by the way. I have a feeling that I will be working with Shepard in the future. In fact I plan on joining her squad once I pick up the upgrades. So can you get some armor upgrades for her squad? I might be able to get the measurements of the squad so that we can make some ghost armor for them." I said.

"Yeah, that will be no problem. I will have some armor upgrades when you get there." he responded.

"Right. I will get over there as soon as possible. Wraith out." I ended the call as I got to the top of the elevator. Walking towards the Council podium I saw Udina in a heated debate with a C-Sec officer, Anderson, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex were standing nearby watching the debate with grins on their faces.

"I am sorry Ambassador, but you will have to wait until the council is free for you. They have an important issue that needs resolving." The officer said to Udina.

"What do you mean? There is no one there! This is of utmost importance. It has to do with Saren's Hearing!" Udina almost yelled.

As I walked towards the podium, the officer looked at me and nodded allowing me to walk up.

"Why is _he_ allowed to talk to the Council yet I am not?" Udina asked in a rage.

I missed the rest of the conversation as I stood on the podium and looked at the Council.

"Wraith. You said that you have evidence linking Saren to the Geth?" Tevos asked me.

"Yes." I answered before playing the audio file.

"Eden prime was a major victory. The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the conduit." Came Saren's voice, followed by Benezia's "And one step closer to the return of the reapers."

"That is the evidence that I found. As you can see it clearly shows that Saren attacked Eden prime with the Geth." I said

"This evidence is irrefutable." Valarn said. "Saren will be stripped of his Spectre status and be brought to justice immediately."

"I am glad that justice was served." I said. "And now I will step back. I believe that the Ambassador and Shepard will be needed for this next part." I walked away from the podium and Udina, Shepard and Anderson stepped forward to the podium. As the Council, the Ambassador and Shepard started discussing Saren's motives I sent a message telling the Origin to prep for takeoff. I returned to the conversation as I heard Udina shout "That is not good enough! You know he's hiding somewhere in the Traverse. Send your fleet in!"

"A fleet cannot track down one man." Malarn responded.

Udina sighed. "A Citadel fleet could secure the entire region. Keep the Geth from attacking any more of our colonies."

"Or it could trigger a war with the Terminus Systems! We wont be dragged into a galactic confrontation over a few dozen human colonies!" Valarn responded. _What did you just say? _

"Everytime humanity asks for help you ignore us!" Shepard said heatedly.

"Shepard's right." Udina said angrilly "I'm sick of this council and its anti-human bull-"

"Ambassador!" Tevos called out. "There is another solution. A way to stop Saren that does not require fleets or armies."

"No! It's too soon. Humanity is not ready for the responsibilities that come with joining the Spectres." Valarn exclaimed.

"You know Councilor. If I didn't know any better I would say that you are racist. Imagine how it would look like if the Turian Councilor was racist." I called out in an offhand sort of way.

Valarn immediately shut up as Shepard said "You don't have to send a fleet in to the traverse and the ambassador gets his Spectre. Everyone's happy."

"Commander Shepard, step forward." Tevos said "It is the decision of the Council that you be granted all the powers and privileges of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch of the Citadel."

"Spectres are not trained, but chosen. Individuals forged in the fire of service and battle, those whose actions elevate them above the rank and file." Malarn continued.

"Spectres are an ideal, a symbol. The embodiment of courage, determination, and self-reliance. They are the right hand of the Council, instruments of our will." Tevos said.

"Spectres bear a great burden. They are the Protecters of the galactic peace, both our first and last line of defence. The safety of the galaxy is thiers to uphold." Valarn continued.

"You are the first human Spectre, Commander. This is a great accomplishment for you and your entire species." Tevos finished.

"I'm honored Councilor." Shepard said.

_Excellent. Humanity has a Spectre._ Sealing off my suit so that no sounds could leave it I called the heads of CryNet as well as Niel Teems. "This is Director Martin Duncan. Maximum security required." I said going though protocols. "You saw the feed?"

"Yes I did." Niel responded.

"As did I." Axel said.

"Sure did boss" Derek said last.

"So humanity has a Spectre." Niel mused.

"Yes. I am going to go and get that upgrade you told me about Derek, as well as those armor upgrades. Then I will go and join up with Shepard. Saren must be stopped. If he is trying to bring back the Reapers, we need to stop him."

"Very well Martin. I will give you all the resources that you need." Niel said giving me access to the staggering amount of resources that Alpha Tech and Sciences has.

"Yes, I will send all information that I can find about Saren to you." Axel said in his usual short and to the point manner.

"Hey boss, I will make sure that you are well equipped. I will get the boys to work double time on that project you asked me to do. It sounds like you are going to need it." Derek told me.

"Right. I will probably be doing this by myself. But I might get Raven squad into this as well. More of behind the scenes work for them though. Well I have to get this ready." I said shutting down the comm channel, as Shepard started walking towards me.

"So Wraith. It seems that I am going after Saren. I could use your help you know." Shepard said.

"Yeah, and no doubt you will get my help. But first I have to go and do something. I will probably see you soon Shepard." I said mysteriously. "Until next time Shepard."

"Until next time Wraith." Shepard said.

I left the tower and went to the docks where Raven Squads ship the CSV Origin SIV was waiting ready to go. _This is going to be one hell of a wild ride._

**_Here it is. As always thanks to ShadowInferno and DN7 for helping me with this story. Chap 4 will come when I am done with It._**


	4. Chapter 4: Interlude

_AN: Sorry for taking so long on this one. I am going on vacation for the next 4 weeks and wont be able to write much if at all. Sorry people._

_As always many thanks to DN7 and shadowinferno. Also there are links to a rough layout of the Origin on my Profile if you are interested._

The Origin. Unlike what most thought, the Normandy was not the first stealth ship to be developed. CryNet had created multiple stealth ships in the last few years, the Origin of which was the first. The Origin was a true masterpiece, while the Normandy was amazing in its own regard, as a Stealth Reconnaissance Vehicle, Origin was designed to be the best at its purpose. Stealth insertion and infiltration. Every Phantom squad has a designated SIV. The Origin was Raven squads ship. Based off the old SR-71 Blackbirds used in the 20th century the SIV class ships had the same form of the SR-71 however were the size of a heavy frigate. Including the best stealth equipment, of which included thermal shielding as well as visual cloaking, made the SIV almost impossible to detect with any sensors. Visual, thermal and LADAR scans were all fooled by the SIV's stealth systems. Deck one consists of the Bridge, monitoring stations for the Stealth and Sensor suits, the CIC, the Armory, Cradle Engineering and the top deck of Engineering. Deck two contains the Med-bay, Mess Hall, Sleeper Pods, the Lower Engineering deck and the Quarters for Raven Squad members. The third deck contains the Cargo hold.

Then there was Raven Squad. Raven squad was the first CryOps Phantom squad created and is, as of now, the best squad. A team of eight Raven squad had multiple specialists. First there was me. I am the Squad leader and the teams infiltration and sniping expert. I prefer to use my cloak and CryBlade up close or snipe from afar.

Viper is my second in command and loves his hit and run tactics. Something that we often try to outdo each other in. His choice in weaponry is a heavy shotgun and an assault rifle.

Typhoon is our heavy weapons specialist he just loves charging headfirst into the enemy ranks with a heavy assault rifle or shotgun.

Nova is our demolitions expert. If you want something destroyed or blown up you go to her. She always uses her assault rifle with the attached grenade launcher, and more often than not uses those grenades to great effect.

Tigress,or as we called herThe Tigress, is our medic. She takes our well being very seriously. If someone hurts one of us she first patches us up, then goes and tears anyone who stands in her path to pieces.

Jackal is our resident soldier. You can give him any gun and he knows what it is and how to use it. Usually he partners up with Typhoon and together they can hold the line against just about anything.

Our last two squad mates are our sniping team, Eagle and Bolt. Eagle and Bolt are like two siblings. Eagle is the spotter for the harder shots that Bolt has to make but can handle a sniper rifle almost as well as Bolt. Together they can cover an area so well that nothing can move inside of it without getting its head blown off.

As I entered the Origin I was greeted by Viper. "Hey boss. Its good to see you." he welcomed me.

"Viper. Good to see you too." I responded smiling. As the airlock doors closed I took off my mask. "Tell Mark to get to our base ASAP. We are going to get some upgrades then I'm going to join Shepard and hunt down Saren."

"Good good." Viper responded "And what will we do?"

"You will be doing any missions that Niel assigns to you or helping me and Shepard out." I said.

"Very well. We will be on standby, waiting for further orders." Viper said as we approached the Armory.

"Tell the rest of the squad that we will be arriving at Raven Nest in about an hour." I said

"Will do Wraith." Viper said.

As I entered the Armory Typhoon greeted me "Wraith!"

"Typhoon. We are heading back to base to get a new suit upgrade. It should make life a lot easier for us in the field." I said.

"You got it. I'll get all your gear packed up. Its a pity though. Why do you get to shoot stuff up while we are stuck out here?" Typhoon asked me.

"Come now Typhoon. I know that you like action but you can't have everything in the world." I said smirking "Besides I might call you guys in for some help every once in a while."

"Sure. Probably you will call us in for the suicide missions while you get all the fun stuff." Typhoon grumbled.

"Aren't the suicide missions the fun ones? I asked pretending to be confused.

"Bah, you know what I mean Wraith." He said.

"Indeed I do Typhoon." I said. "Right well get my gear ready for transfer, I have to go and get a scan done of my suit. Something strange happened on Eden Prime."

"Right boss" was Typhoons response as I left the armory and entered the Cradle room on the opposite side of the armory.

"Kevin, I need a suit scan. Something happened on Eden Prime, that huge Geth flagship apparently tried to gain access to the suit. I need to know what happened." I said to Kevin the lead cradle engineer. "It prevented me from saving Nihlus."

"That is strange. The suit has safeguards against hacking attempts. Especially AI hackers." Kevin said thinking outloud.

"Yeah, but nothing like this. My whole suit froze up and nothing worked anymore. Hell, it activated the Safety protocols. Even the memory of the event was corrupted. I thought that couldn't happen." I said.

"True that shouldn't be able to happen. Right well one way to figure out. Get in the cradle. I will begin the suit scan." Kevin concluded.

I got in the Cradle and soon enough the scan started. "Hmmm nothing obvious here. Wait. . . What is this? Well this is interesting, it seems that the suit has formed a symbiotic relationship higher than that of the regular one." Kevin said interested.

"Wait, Symbiosis? More than what we have now? But what we have now binds the suit and user together to allow for the mind reading capabilities, without bringing it to such a level where it can't be taken off. If it's a bigger symbiosis that means that..." I trailed off.

"Well I don't think that its what you think. Hmmm no. It's not the kind that will mean that you both would die if you take it off. From what I see it seems to be rewriting the deep layer protocols. Interesting. I'm going to run a deep layer scan." Kevin said reassuringly.

"_**Preparing for deep layer scan."**_

My visor immediately started showing the deep layer scan. I soon noticed something different. "What is this?" Kevin asked surprised. "The suit seems to have started a new Deep Layer protocol. It seems to be against something it designates as Indoctrination, but it's not finished yet. I think it needs some more analysis before it can come up with a countermeasure for whatever Indoctrination is. Alright bringing you out of the Cradle."

I left the Cradle and entered the elevator. I headed to Deck Two to have Tigress check up on my shoulder. As I entered the Med-bay I saw Nova and Tigress in a conversation. "Hey Nova. Did you blow up your arm again?" I asked grinning.

"Damnit Wraith! I didn't blow up my arm!" Nova exclaimed. "I just singed it a bit. How was I supposed to know that a tiny bit of Static electricity would set it off?

"You are our demolition expert. You should know these things. Hey doc can you check up on my shoulder quickly? I got shot by a turret on the Citadel." I said.

"What have you been getting yourself into Wraith?" Tigress asked amused "Alright lets see now eh? I'm supposing you can't take of your suit?"

"No sorry but I'm on a tight schedule. We have to get that new suit upgrade then I'm going to join the first human Spectre on a hunt for a rogue Spectre." I said smirking.

"Hmm pity. Guess I will have to do a scan." She said starting to scan my shoulder.

"Damnit Wraith, why do you get the fun missions?" Nova asked pouting.

"Awwww don't cry Nova I'm sure that I can find something for you to blow up." I said smirking.

"Well it seems that the suit did a good job. The shots entered cleanly, missing the main arteries allowing the suit to get rid of them rather quickly. " Tigress said finishing her scan. "Do be careful though next time. I don't want you getting hurt."

"Will do Doc." I said

"All hands we are nearing Raven Nest. Prepare for docking." Mark our pilot said over loudspeaker.

"Alright. It seems that we are almost there. I'm heading for the Bridge." I said leaving the Med-bay.

* * *

><p>Raven Nest was is the name of the Base that is assigned to Raven squad. It was within the Exodus cluster in the Utopia system, rather close to the Mass relay. It had four different wings all connected to a central hub. Each wing had its own purpose. The Alpha wing had the was the Logistics HQ for Raven squad. Bravo wing had the Nanosuit Maintenance rooms. Charlie wing consisted of the Stations Armory and Delta wing had the living quarters of the Station. The hub was the Stations engineering and hanger bays. Raven Nest had a personnel of almost one thousand people.<p>

"Alright we are going ashore. Everyone get to the suit maintenance area to get your upgrades."

"Will do boss." Mark responded.

Leaving the Origin I headed for the Nanosuit maintenance rooms. When I arrived I was directed to a special Cradle designed for upgrading and performing maintenance on our suits. "All right get that new upgrade for my suit." I told the head engineer there at the time.

"Yes sir. Beginning upgrade." He responded.

"_**New Biocode detected. Scanning... Assimilating Biocode. Rewriting Deep layer protocols. Rebooting system... Rerouting primary systems... Systems rerouted cleared to proceed."**_

"Alright that should be it. Now If you would go and absorb the sample in the next room we can see if it worked." The engineer guided me.

I entered the room he showed me and walked up to the sample he told me about. Picking it up my suit began to absorb the sample. _**"Tissue Sample Detected. Activating Interface. Processing Tissue. . . Assimilating Tissue. . . Assimilation Complete. Adapting Armor. . . Armor adaptation 50% Complete. Additional samples required." **_

"Alright I think it worked. It said something about my Armor being adapted 50%." I said to the Engineer.

"Yes when you are on the field it can absorb certain samples and upgrade your suit in the field. It will also do the same for technology." The engineer replied.

"Alright thanks for that. It seems that I have to get going. My team will probably be coming by in the future." I said heading towards the Origin.

Arriving at the Hanger I saw our sniper team Eagle and Bolt standing next to each other. "Hey Eagle, Bolt. How is everything going?" I asked.

"Fine Wraith. This upgrade is very interesting." Eagle said.

"Yes, it should come in handy in the future." I said.

"Yeah while you are gallivanting off with Shepard we are stuck on the Origin until something interesting happens" Bolt said pouting.

"True. But think of the stories I will be able to tell!" I said smirking.

"Bah. We want to be a part of that Story." Eagle told me.

"Well we can't have everything. Come on get on board we're leaving." I said.

"Will do" "Roger that Wraith"

Entering the Origin I turned to Mark "Well Mark did you get the location of the Normandy?" I asked him

"Yeah. They are heading for the Artemis Tau cluster." Mark responded.

"Alright." I said before switching on my comm "Attention Raven Squad this is Wraith. Prepare for departure. We are heading for the Artemis Tau cluster. Squad check in."

"Viper here."

"Typhoon ready"

"Nova prepped and ready"

"The Tigress is here"

"Eagle checking in"

"Bolt here, lets do this"

"Jackal ready and bored"

"Alright Mark take us out. Tell me when we are nearing the Normandy but still well outside of sensor range. I want to surprise them a little. I'll be in my quarters." I said

"Roger that Wraith. Would that surprise have something to do with the stealth systems?" Mark asked me grinning.

"Perhaps" I said leaving the Bridge and heading to the elevator. The door to the elevator opened and Jackal stepped out. "Hey Jackal I missed you in the Armory before." I greeted him.

"Hah, I'll bet you did. I was in my quarters, taking a nap." Jackal responded.

"A nap eh? Was your mission that tiring?" I asked him.

Jackal looked at me and said "You are always the one who says that we should sleep after a mission you know."

"True. True. So how was the mission?" I asked.

"Rather simple. I just went in took out the power generator, created a distraction and went in. I took out the guards and got the objective. Simple and easy." Jackal told me.

"Excellent. Well I don't want to keep you waiting and I have to check up on my gear so I will be seeing you." I said stepping into the elevator.

"Right Wraith. I see you."

When I entered my quarters I saw all my gear sitting in a special bag on my desk. The bag was made to be able to attach to a nanosuit allowing me to carry everything rather comfortably. Sitting down at my desk I decided to look up on information that could lead to Saren. I found four things that interested me. The first was that Matriarch Benezias daughter was on Therum and that it had been attacked by Geth. Judging by the Normandy's heading it seemed that Shepard was heading there first. Then I saw that the colony on Feros was under attack by the Geth. Noveria had reports of Benezia heading to a private research facility, and lastly was a dispatch from the Council to a Salarian STG team with instructions to investigate a base on Virmire. I was just finishing up with my reading when Mark called me on the intercom. "Wraith, we are approaching the SSV Normandy."

"Alright Mark. I will be there shortly" I said getting up. "Engage stealth systems."

"Affirmative Wraith Stealth systems are engaging."

I heard the telltale sounds of the Stealth systems engaging as I entered the elevator. When I reached the Bridge I asked Mark "Alright where is the Normandy?"

"They are just entering the Sparta System."

"Alright. Tail them. See what they are doing." I said.

"Huh, it seems that they are doing a Mako drop on Edolus." Mark told me.

"Edolus? Whats so special about Edolus?" I asked.

"Uh it seems that there is a distress beacon on the planet surface." Mark told me.

"_**Distress beacon automated. No message. Scanning. Distress beacon location detected. Warning Thresher Maw lifeforms Detected. Warning: Critical threat to Allied units identified." **_SECOND informed me.

"Damn. It's a Trap! And they are running right into it!" I said. "Raven Squad! We have multiple Thresher Maw's on the planet surface! Shepard is running straight into a trap. Prepare for insertion. Mark get us down there, now." I ordered.

"Yes sir!" Mark replied.

"Raven squad to the Cargo bay." I ordered.

I turned and walked hurriedly towards the Elevator. I was joined in the elevator by Jackal and Typhoon coming out of the Armory.

"Wow boss. Multiple Thresher Maws?" Typhoon asked me incredulously.

"We haven't faced Thresher Maws for ages." Jackal said.

As the elevator arrived on deck two we were joined by Tigress, Nova, Viper, Eagle and Bolt.

"You know Wraith this was a rather short notice" Viper said "I prefer a bit more warning."

"Sorry team but this was a big surprise." I said as the elevator doors opened on the cargo deck. "Alright, sync up Squad."

"_**Synchronizing with Raven Squad. **_

_**Viper Synchronization Complete.**_

_**Typhoon Synchronization Complete.**_

_**Nova Synchronization Complete.**_

_**Jackal Synchronization Complete.**_

_**Eagle Synchronization Complete.**_

_**Bolt Synchronization Complete.**_

_**Tigress Synchronization Complete.**_

_**Raven Squad Synchronization Complete."**_

"Alright squad. SECOND Bring up tactical Options."

SECOND brought up a map of the area around the Distress beacon. With Shepard's Mako, the two Thresher maws and the landing zones of the Squad. _**"Typhoon, Jackal, Nova, Tigress land on slope southwest of valley. Form assault team Alpha. Wraith, Viper land on opposite side of Valley. Form Covert Team Bravo. Sniper team land on High Ground southeast of valley. Form Sniper Team Charlie."**_

"Alright that sounds good." Viper said. "You guys good with that?"

Various agreements came from the different Squad members.

"Alright. Mark, you got the landing zones?" I asked.

"Yeah I got them. You should use the HALOM units for this."

"You got it." I said. The HALOM (High Altitude Low Mass) Units were Mass lowering fields that lowered the mass of the user allowing for lighter landings. They were developed by Alpha Tech and Science to allow for High altitude drops in a Nanosuit. It was a backpack that contained a small mass effect core and enough power for one drop, after which it had to be recharged. "Alright squad. Grab your HALOMs We are going in." I said activating my HALOM.

"Alright Squad. Charlie Team will go first. Followed by Alpha team and Viper. Wraith will jump last." Mark informed us as a red light went on at the cargo door and we went to our positions. "Disengaging Cloaking field. Green light in 5...4...3...2...1..." Eagle and Bolt jumped out as the light went green. "Alpha Team and Viper Go! Go!" Came mark's voice and Alpha Team and Viper jumped out after Eagle and Bolt. "Alright Wraith Go!" Mark said as I ran down the Ramp and jumped. As I was falling SECOND Brought up a map showing my location, the LZ and my present course. At my present course I would hit the LZ perfectly. As the Ground approached I activated Armor mode.

"_**Maximum armor." **_

WHAM! The impact of the Fall had been absorbed by my suit and since my mass had been lowered the impact was a lot lower than it would be without the HALOM.

"This is Wraith I am on the Ground. Check in"

"Viper has landed."

"Alpha Team has made it" Came Typhoon's voice.

"Charlie team is in position. Shepard is entering valley now. No sign of contact." Eagle Radioed in.

"Alright squad remember. Keep moving. Those Maws will make short work of you if you stay still." I said before engaging Cloak.

"This is Eagle. Mako has arrived at Distress beacon."

"Right." I said starting to move towards the Beacon.

"_**Seismic activity detected. Thresher Maw inbound." **_SECOND informed me as two Thresher Maws burrowed. One Unburrowed close to Shepard's Mako while the other came up near Alpha team.

"Here they come!" Jackal said.

"We are moving to engage!" Came Nova's voice.

"Charlie team use Armor Piercing rounds. Aim for the eyes!" I called out.

"We can't get a shot off! Make it turn towards us!" Bolt said.

"Viper you are closest to Shepard. Get over there tell her to get them to turn towards Charlie Team!" I ordered.

"Roger that."

"You want some of this?" Nova Shouted and I heard massive explosion by the maw closest to Alpha Team.

"Well done Nova!" Typhoon congratulated her. "That looked like it hurt."

"This is Viper. Shepard is informed but questioning where the hell we came from."

"Roger that Viper." I took out my sniper rifle and took a shot at the Maw that was chasing the Mako. "Damnit is anything actually doing something to them?" I asked, the fire from our small arms doing nothing to the thick hide of the giant burrowing worms.

"No the only thing that hurt it was that grenade from Nova and the Mako's cannon." Jackal said.

"Damnit." I swore.

"Origin to Raven Squad. Origin to Raven Squad."

"This is Wraith. What is it Origin?" I asked.

"There is another Maw heading your way. Its coming in fast." Mark told us.

"Shit." I said. "Alright, Alpha team distract the Maw's. Viper tell Shepard to do the same. But don't get too close. Charlie designate the two Maws here for air strike. I will do the same for the last one. Origin, we are designating three targets for air strike. Please confirm can-do."

"This is Origin. Linking weapons to your suits, stand by."

"_**Beginning uplink to Origin weapons, Stand By." **_

"Alright connection established." Mark told us. "Setting up my run."

"Alright, Viper inform Shepard of the situation." I ordered "Tell them to get out of the line of fire."

"This is Origin, the last Thresher Maw is almost there. We are beginning our attack run. Mark all targets now" Mark informed me.

"Alright here it comes get out of here!" I shouted "The last maw is almost here."

"_**Seismic activity detected" **_SECOND said as the last Maw came up and I immediately marked it with my visor.

"Targets locked. Firing on first Maw" I heard before a colossal explosion engulfed the first Maw. "Target hit. Firing on Second Maw" the Second Maw was blown apart. "Positive hit. Last Maw targeted. Firing" Mark said and I saw the origin coming in for its run in the distance. I saw the shot leaving the Origin and saw the last maw fall to the ground without a head. "Targets destroyed."

"Well done Mark. Send the shuttle down to pick up the the squad. Raven squad check in. And rendezvous at the Distress beacon."

"Viper en route."

"Alpha team moving" Jackal said.

"Charlie team on its way" Bolt said.

As I reached the beacon Shepard was just leaving the Mako with Viper standing near by. Alpha team was just arriving from the opposite side of the valley, with Eagle and Bolt running towards us in the distance.

"Would you please tell me who the hell you are?" I heard Shepard ask when I had a sudden idea and engaged my cloak.

"CryNet Phantom Agent Viper, Second in command of Raven Squad ma'am." Viper responded catching on immediately to what I was planning.

"Typhoon, heavy weapons specialist of Raven Squad" Typhoon introduced himself.

"Jackal, just your regular all around gun expert" Jackal said.

"Nova, Demolitions expert round here." Nova Introduced herself.

"I would be the team medic, Tigress"

"I would be Eagle, Spotter for Bolt here" Eagle said arriving.

"As Eagle already said, I would be Bolt the Sniper for Raven Squad" Bolt said glancing at Eagle.

"And who is your Commanding officer?" Shepard asked suspiciously "And why did you just happen to be here now?"

"I would be the Commanding Officer of Raven squad Shep." I said uncloaking. "As for why we are here well, we were tracking you when we saw you prepare to do a Mako drop. We saw the distress beacon and detected two Thresher Maws in the area. We figured that it was a trap and came down here."

"Well Wraith, that doesn't explain why you were following us in the first place." Shepard said raising her eyebrow at me.

"Hey! I said that you would be seeing me Shep. I was going to join you now." I said. "But first I have to get my gear. It's still on the Origin. I didn't have time to take everything with me on my way to save you from the evil worms."Which reminded me as I looked over to the remains of the damn things, _I wonder if the suit can get anything off of these Maws_. "Squad get over to the Maw's. Assimilate some of their tissue. Shepard you can head back to the Normandy now. If you are going to check out Benezia's daughter then we will meet on Therum. I can join you there while Raven squad goes and does its own business." I said.

"Good idea. Normandy come pick us up. We are getting out of here." Shepard radioed Joker.

"Alright see you Shepard." I said walking towards the corpse of the nearest Maw.

"See you Wraith." Shepard said before entering her Mako and heading to her landing zone.

Arriving at the corpse I went and picked up a piece of the Maw's exo skeleton. _**"Tissue Sample Detected. Activating interface. Processing Tissue. . . Assimilating Tissue. . . Assimilation complete. Adapting to harsh environments. . . adaptation 33% complete. **__**Additional samples required."**_

"Harsh environments eh? That could be useful." I said.

"Yeah I wonder what other samples we will need." Jackal commented.

"Probably some thing that can survive in hostile environments." Nova responded. "I'm guessing Krogan will be one."

"Perhaps." Jackal said.

"Origin this is Wraith. Send the shuttle down to pick us up." I called the Origin. "Squad. Recover your HALOM units. We are getting out of here."

"We brought them with us Wraith." Eagle said, Bolt nodding next to him.

"Alright the rest of you get going." I ordered. Before running towards my HALOM and bringing it to where the shuttle was landing. "Alright people all aboard."

* * *

><p>After dropping off the rest of the squad, I stayed in the shuttle which headed out to the Normandy, which was still in orbit waiting for me to arrive. Since the Normandy's Cargo doors were too small for the shuttle, I had to enter the Normandy through the airlock. As I left the Airlock I was greeted by Shepard standing right outside of the doors.<p>

"You know how many times you have come in for the rescue now Wraith?" Shepard asked me.

"I think that that is the second time now." I responded thinking of Akuze.

"Hey Wraith, do you have any idea how freaky it was to all of a sudden have another ship appearing right in front of us?" Joker said to me. "Especially in an atmosphere?"

"Yeah and here I thought that the Normandy was a one of a kind." Shepard said looking at me.

"Yeah it is supposed to be the only ship with stealth capabilities." Joker said.

"Was it now?" I asked. "The Origin is only one of a few Stealth ships that CryNet employes. However it uses advanced stealth systems that not only include thermal emission dampening but also LADAR absorbing and Optical Cloaking systems. The Origin is one of CryNet's SIVs. A Stealth Infiltration Vehicle. These are used by Phantom Squads."

"I must say the Optical Cloaking surprised me. There we were looking up when all of a sudden we saw a ship appear out of nowhere." Shepard said smirking.

"LADAR absorbing? Optical Cloaking?" Joker asked incredulously "With those kinds of Stealth Systems it would be next impossible to detect the Origin. Even LADAR scans would be unable to detect it."

"What I want to know is why these aren't public knowledge" Shepard asked me narrowing her eyes.

"Easy. The Council knows of course but other than that no one does. The Council won't say anything because they know that it needs to be kept secret. If they said anything then CryNet can inform the Galaxy, of Black Ops that CryNet carried out, under contract from the Council and they would lose our services." I said.

"Interesting. You said that Dr. Tsoni was on Therum, Wraith?" Shepard asked me.

"That she is." I responded.

"Alright Joker set course for Therum." Shepard ordered.

"ETA one and a half hours."

"Alright. I will set myself up. I will take the room I was in last time if that's ok Shep?" I said.

"Sure thing Wraith. When we near Therum there will be a briefing in the Comm room." Shepard told me.

"Alright, I'll be there." I said before carrying my equipment to my room. I ran a checklist while stashing my equipment. _Silencer? Check. Grenade Launcher? Check. Targeting enhancement? Check. Kinetic Stabilizer? Check. Heat Dispersion unit? Check. CNA-AR X? Check. CNA-SR X? Check. CNA-HP X? Check. Alright lets see what Therum is like._ I thought before checking CryTell for information on Therum.

After an hour Shepard's voice came through the loudspeaker "All squad members report to the Comm room." _Time for the briefing._

_AN: CNA-AR stands for CryNet Armories Assault rifle, Same fore the CNA-SR Sniper Rifle and CNA-HP heavy Pistol. _


	5. Chapter 5: A Heated Rescue

_AN: Sorry it took this long to update, but I had a vacation for a month where I couldn't write anything, and then School started. I also have a secret project that is in the works, All I will say is that its a Mass Effect Crossover. As it is many thanks to DN7 with his help._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Mass effect or Crysis. Bioware and CryTek do. _

I stood up and headed out the door. As I walked past the elevator opened and Ashley, Wrex, Garrus and Tali walked out.

"Well Wraith. It's good to see you again." Ashley said as they stepped out.

"Yeah, and thanks for helping us down there Wraith." Garrus added.

"No problem Garrus. We would have done the same if there had been anyone else down there." I said ascending the stairs. "My only concern is that it was a damn trap and that those Alliance Marines fell for it and died." I said.

"We fell for it too you know." Garrus said.

"But you didn't die." I responded dryly.

"Why do you think it was a trap Wraith?" Tali asked me.

"What's this about a trap?" Shepard interrupted as we entered the Comm room.

"Easy Shep… Automated distress beacons are programmed when they launch to give the ships name and usually the cause for distress. This beacon had no such message and it was found in the middle of a Thresher nest."I said turning to look at her. "Raven team is looking into who could have planted the beacon right now."

"Maybe… But I don't believe that it was a trap Wraith." Shepard responded slowly.

"Ha, how about our usual bet then? As I recall you still owe me a beer." I said laughing.

"Gah. I had hoped that you forgot about that." Shepard grumbled smiling. "Anyway, onto Therum. We believe that there is a strong Geth presence on Therum so I'll be taking Garrus and Wrex with me in the Mako. Wraith, can you do a drop like what you did on Edolus?" Shepard asked me.

"Yeah, no problem Shep." I responded.

"We will land at this site here in the Mako some two kilometers from the dig site. Wraith will you be able to drop on the hills overlooking this refinery?" She said and pinged the locations on our Omni-tools, or in my case my suit visor.

"Could be tricky Shepard, if the ground is too uneven then it will be rather difficult for me to do a jump. Hang on." I said before asking SECOND "SECOND what are the chances of a successful landing on the hills.?"

"_**Analyzing. . . Analysis complete. Chance of successful landing 87%. Use of HALOM Maneuvering boosters required."**_

"Yeah no problem, Shep. You want me to land up here and give sniper support?" I asked.

"No. I want you to wait there until we are just around the bend of the refinery. Then you will infiltrate the refinery and open the gates. When the gates are open we will come in with the Mako." Shepard said.

"You know that if there are Geth down there, when I kill one the others will immediately notice?" I asked.

"Yes. That is why you will have to open the gate without killing anything." Shepard said smirking at me.

"Oh so that is how it's going to be eh? I have to sneak around not killing anything while you get to come in and blow everything to pieces in a tank?"

"Of course… I am sure that you can handle it Wraith." Shepard smiled at me before continuing. "Once the refinery is clear we will head along this path until we get to this point here. There we will go ahead on foot to the dig site and work from there. Wraith you will be scouting ahead."

"Oh sure you get to be nice and cozy in a tank while I get to be in the heat of a volcano." I said sarcastically.

"Your suit protects you from the heat Wraith." Shepard commented.

"That's not the point!" I exclaimed

"Any more questions?" Shepard asked ignoring me. "No? Alright let's do this."

I stood up, nodded at Shepard saying "I have to go set up. I will be down in the cargo bay in 15." before turning and heading down the stairs to my office/armory.

Once I got to the office, I looked it over. The HALOM Unit was sitting on the bed along with the rest of my gear. After attaching the HALOM, I checked over both the assault and sniper rifles to be sure there wasn't anything that required immediate attention. Finding both of them in prime condition, _CryTech Weapons are made to last after all_, I patted my hip holster for the pistol and knife I always carry with me. Those two items in their proper place, I considered if I wanted to take anything else. _Better to pack extra and not need it then not pack it and need it_, I thought to myself as I attached my grenade launcher to my Assault rifle before collapsing it and attaching it to the suit. For extra measure I grabbed the Targeting Enhancement Module, which can be used to call in everything from rockets to orbital strikes and attached it to the sniper rifle's scope. _Can't forget the most important part, _I thought as I dug out three small blocks, _the __Pièce ___de résistance___. The blocks, which I safely tucked inside my ammo pouch, were experimental explosive demolition charges that had yet to go through field trials. ___No time like the present___, I smiled to myself as I made my way down to the Cargo bay._

"Good to see that someone is on time," Shepard quipped as I checked my suits visor for the time. 15 minutes on the dot.** "**Wraith, are you ready?"

"Good to go Shepard. Lets do this." I responded as Shepard entered the Mako. "SECOND,bring up my HUD."

"_**Primary objectives engaged. Area map engaged. Landing site located. All systems online. Cleared to proceed."**_

"Shepard, Garrus, Wrex check check. Do you all copy me?" I radioed.

"I hear you Wraith" came Shepard's voice.

"Loud and Clear" Garrus replied.

"I hear you Wraith." Wrex grunted. "I'm taking the guns."

"You got it Wrex. You ready to shoot something?." I asked chuckling.

"Of course." Wrex responded.

"Ok Commander, coming up on drop-point one." Joker radioed, as the cargo bay doors opened. After Joker gave Shepard a brief countdown, she gunned the Mako's engine and flew out of the Normandy's cargo bay.

"Normandy this is Shepard. Landing successful. Moving on."

"Drop point two is coming up Wraith. I'm only going to be able to hold position for three seconds, so be ready to jump." Joker told me.

"Gotcha Joker. I'm ready." I said, walking toward the still open door. I checked my HALOM, to make sure that the LZ was marked in, as well as the estimated drop-point.

As the Normandy approached the drop-point Joker counted down until I had to jump. "Jump in 5...4...3...2...1 Now!" With that I jumped out of the Normandy, and I could feel the HALOM activating and begin to maneuver me into position as the ground rushed up to meet me.

"_**Maximum Armor"**_

I hit the ground right in the middle of the LZ. "Normandy, Shepard, this is Wraith. Landing was successful."

"Copy that Wraith." Came Shepard's reply. "We are nearing the open area before the refinery. We will wait there until you are ready."

I activated my visor and looked out toward the road where the Mako was driving along. "I see ya. . . I- Wait a minute" I said breaking off as SECOND marked something on my visor.

"_**Warning, Geth Dropship detected. High probability that Shepard has been detected by Geth."**_

"Watch your ass Shep. Geth dropship incoming. I will leave you to deal with anything it drops. Heading into the refinery now." I said turning to look at the refinery. "SECOND, what do we got down there?"

"_**Three heavy Geth turrets in front of the main gate. These must be eliminated. Gate controls are located in this building here. Multiple Geth units of various classes detected inside the refinery."**_

"Great... SECOND how strong is that gate. Could we blow it with the charges we have now? And if so, would we have enough left over to destroy those turrets."

"_**Analyzing. . . Gate consists of two layers. Planting det packs in between these two layers would destroy the gate. Detonation of all three charges on the gate should destroy turrets.."**_

"Excellent well here we go then."

"_**Cloak engaged"**_

I started sneaking down the mountain. Just before the bottom, I uncloaked behind a large boulder and waited for a full charge before reengaging cloak and jumping out onto the roof of a building on the side of the gate. I then jumped down between the two gates, and uncloaked. I took out the three high explosive demolition charges and planted them together on the middle of the gate. I cloaked and jumped up on the roof of the building opposite of the one I was on before. "SECOND are we out of the blast radius?" I asked.

"_**Affirmative"**_

_Alright then_ "Shepard this is Wraith. Get ready to come in with your guns blazing." I radioed Shepard.

"Copy that Wraith. We are right around the corner. The armatures that the Dropship left for us were nothing. But shields are down to 85%"

"Alright. On my mark start driving." I responded.

"Will do Wraith... Uh wait a sec... You do have a plan for those turrets right?" Shepard asked me after a moments pause.

"Of course. I took care of everything." I said smirking slightly. "Alright DRIVE!" I said and waited until I saw the Mako come round the corner before detonating the charges. The explosion blew the gate, the turrets and part of the building to pieces. "KABOOOOM! Now THAT'S what I'm talking about!" I exclaimed as the Mako drove through the wreckage of the gate and started blasting everything that moved. _Wrex must be manning the cannon,_ I thought smirking. After all of the Geth were destroyed, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex climbed out of the Mako and I stood up on the roof on the building. They all turned towards me and Shepard said "You know Wraith, I wasn't expecting that," nodding her head towards the now destroyed gate.

"Hey, you have to admit that was awesome though." I said, jumping down from the building and walking towards the Mako.

"True but it was rather dangerous don't you think?" Shepard said, a hint of concern in her voice.

"Bah... I was fi-" I was interrupted by a colossal explosion behind me. Diving to the side and taking out my assault rifle in the process, I came up expecting an attack. Scanning the area, I saw that the building that I had been standing on had exploded. "What the hell? SECOND what just happened."

"_**Fuel tank rupture from charge detonation lead to explosion."**_

"Damn... A few seconds sooner, or had I stayed up there a few seconds longer and I would have had a problem." I spoke out loud to no one in particular as I holstered the rifle. "Well no harm done. Let's open that next gate and get on with the mission."

"That's it?" Shepard asked incredulously. "You almost get blown up and all you say is 'no harm done'?"

I stopped and turned towards Shepard "Yes, no harm done. When I am on a mission, I have to adapt and go with the flow. Take for instance if there was a situation where speed was critical. I can't stop and freak out because I was almost injured in an explosion. I have to go on to the objective. You should know that Shepard. People like us can't let feelings get in the way of a mission."

"I know that. But this wouldn't have been an injury. You would have most likely died had you been on that building." Shepard responded.

"I don't think that I would have died Shep. The suit would have absorbed most of the damage and the rest would have been healed within minutes." I answered.

"Minutes Wraith? Just what can't the suit heal?" Garrus interrupted.

"So far, all simulations and tests that we have run, as well as from experience, the suits will heal everything that doesn't kill the person before it can properly engage its healing protocols. It is almost impossible to bleed to death in one of these because the suit will stop the bleeding before reconstructing the damaged tissue with Nanocells. That's what happened when I was shot on the Citadel. For very serious wounds that would normally be lethal, even with Medigel, the suit will engage its advanced healing protocols. This diverts all power to the suits healing functions. As such, the wearer is very exposed to further fire." I explained "Hell it could probably bring someone back from the dead.**" **Everyone did the equivalent of an eyebrow raise. "Not that I want to test that out though." I added hastily.

"For a non-Krogan, you sure seem to have become one Wraith." Wrex commented.

"Perhaps. But I think that we have a job to do?" I said smirking slightly.

"True that we do." Shepard said, slipping into her commander role "Wraith, head out. Scout the area ahead. We will finish up here and head out. Be sure to keep in radio contact."

"Got it, moving out." I turned and started running towards the other gate.

"_**Maximum Power"**_

As I neared the gate I put on a big boost of power and jumped over the gate. Right before I hit the ground, SECOND activated Armor mode to absorb the impact. After I landed SECOND reengaged Power mode to help ease the strain of running. I soon came to a large lake of lava. On the bank there was a pipeline hugging the side of a cliff. I was running along the bank when SECOND highlighted something on my visor and said _**"Warning. Threat detected. Threat identified: Geth Armature. Proceed with caution."**_ _Damn. That could be problematic. _Viewing the area ahead I noticed another armature farther on. SECOND highlighted that one as well. "Shepard, hold back. There are two armatures along this road." I radioed to let Shepard know.

"Got it holding position at the gate. Tell me when you have a plan." Shepard responded.

_Plan, yes a plan. Too bad we don't have any long range artillary that I could spot for. Wait, _"SECOND, send the coordinates of the armatures to the Mako. They can probably take them out from afar then."

"_**Affirmative."**_

"Good" I said before radioing Shepard. "Shepard. I got a plan. SECOND sent you the coordinates of the armatures. You can use those to take 'em out from range."

"Good idea Wraith. Wrex here is your chance to shoot something. Again." Shepard said.

"Good I can't wait" Wrex grunted over the radio.

"Shepard did you get those coordinates?" I asked.

"Got 'em. Preparing to engage now.." Came her swift response.

I heard the roar of the cannon, accompanied by an explosion on the first armature. As the explosion cleared I saw that the armature had been destroyed in the blast. _Huh... Its shields must have been down._

"The first one is dead. That was too easy." came Wrex's slightly disappointed voice.

Once more the cannon fired, only this time the armature survived the shot. I took out my sniper rifle, just in case it would be needed. The Mako's cannon shot once more, and I noticed that this time it punched through the rest of the shields and severely damaged the armature. Just as I was about to put a round through its head, I heard the crack of a sniper rifle and the Armature fell down. "DAMNIT! Someone stole my kill again!" I exclaimed turning towards the Mako. I saw that Garrus was standing next to the Mako holding his sniper rifle. "Damnit Garrus. That was my kill!"

"I don't think so, as I got it it first." Garrus said chuckling. I heard Wrex laughing in the background.

"Bah, killstealers." I muttered. "Just you wait. I am so going to steal one of your kills."

"Whats the matter Wraith? Not so fast in your old age?" Shepard teased me.

"Bah. I will have you know that I am only seven years older than you Shep." I muttered.

"Yes, well moving on. We should keep going." Shepard said smiling.

"One moment, I want to see what my suit can get off of these armatures." I said, before jogging the the nearest armature. "SECOND, scan this armature. See what you can get."

"_**Affirmative. Scanning. . . Scan complete. Analyzing for weak points." **_A rotating view of an armature popped up on my visor. Soon, multiple spots were marked in red, along with weapons that could be used against that weak point. The head was marked with a sniper rifle, if their shields were down, as well as the joints of the neck and legs. One weak point caught my attention _**"Underside of Armature is poorly armored. Explosion on the underside of the armature would cause massive damage. Note: In the middle of the underside of the Armature is a critical power line that provides power to the main ai core of the armature. Cutting this line would cause the armature to die. Power line is susceptible to knife, if user can get into position." **__Huh, good luck with that. Getting right underneath the armature to stab it would be hard as hell._ _**"Storing Armature Data"**_

"Alright Shepard. I'm done here. Moving on." I radioed.

"Copy that Wraith. We will stay a fair distance behind you so you can inform us of any Geth." Shepard responded.

"But not too far Shepard. I Am getting bored here." Came Wrex's voice over the comm.

"You know Wrex. I think that you got your chance to shoot something. There are two armatures over here. I am sending you the coordinates." I radioed as I reached the other side of the lake.

"Bah, Hitting them from range is no fun." Wrex grunted.

"True, but it's quite a bit safer this way. Fire at will commander." I said, mimicking the voice of the Emperor from that classic Star Wars.

"'Commander'? Wrex is the one on the gun." Came Garrus's confused response at the same time as Shepard started chuckling.

"Seriously Wraith? The Emperor?" She said still chuckling.

"Hey, I will have you know that that line is pretty sweet. That and 'we lost something'. Hmm... I hope that I won't have to say that line." I mused.

"What? Emperor? We lost something?" Garrus asked even more confused.

"You mean to tell me that you haven't seen any of the Star Wars movies?" I asked appalled.

"No, I can't say that I have." Garrus said.

"Well, we will definitely have to change that... Won't we Wraith?" Shepard asked my.

"You bet we will. Lets hurry up and finish this op, so that we can get to watching movies." I exclaimed.

"Less talking more shooting" Wrex said. I turned and noticed that the two armatures were just smoking corpses.

"Well I see that you got rid of those Armatures Wrex. Lets see what else is around here." I said "Wraith moving out." As I walked past the two armature bodies I noticed an oversized armature along with three rocket troopers and a Geth sniper. _What is that?_

"_**Warning threat identified: Geth Colossus. Approach with caution."**_

"Uhhh Shepard? We got a large Colossus here. And there is no good place for you to hit it from afar. There are also three rocket troopers and a Geth Sniper." I radioed.

"Copy that we are receiving the coordinates on our map now... Great... Alright Wraith, the Mako will be able to take some damage. I am going to drive in guns blazing, if you could get into a good position and take out those rockets and sniper from afar before concentrating on the Colossus then we should stand a good chance of taking it out." Shepard quickly responded.

"Gotcha Shep. I will tell you when I am in postion." I said before running up the hill to my right. At the top I took out my sniper rifle, went down on my stomach and cloaked. "I'm in position."

"Gotcha. Open fire we are heading in" Came Shepard's swift response and I heard the Mako driving into the fray. I lined up my sights on the Geth Sniper and uncloaked, firing off my shot and recloaked right after. The sniper fell down missing a head. I turned did the same with the next two Rocket troopers. While lining up my shot on the last rocket trooper it turned and aimed its rocket launcher at my position.

"_**Warning, Geth have ascertained your approximate location"**_

_Damn..._ I thought before uncloaking and taking the shot, immediately recloaking after. Turning towards the Colossus just in time to see a blue bolt of light heading towards me. "Son of a b-" I swore before quickly activating power mode and jumping forwards, down the hill. Landing on the ground I quickly hid behind a rock as multiple shots impacted around me. "A little help here Shep. I am pinned down."

"I hear ya Wraith. Its shields are almost down." She responded quickly.

"Sweet. Let's introduce these boys to a little human ingenuity - the mark 12 penetrator round." I said taking out the ammo block of my sniper rifle and inserting said round in my rifle, and calibrating it to fire it. The barrel extended to twice its already considerable length and I could hear a low humming originating from the Rifle. Peering around the rock I waited for the shields of the Colossus to break.

"_**Colossus shields broken. Maximum armor"**_

I spun out of cover, lined up my shot, steadying my arm with the suit, and pulled the trigger. **CRACK**. The recoil of the shot was so massive, had I not been using the suit my arm would most likely have been blown off by the sheer power of the shot. The Colossus fell to the ground. A huge hole gaping in its head and a white line tracing from my rifle to the colossus. My visor indicated that my sniper was overheated, and was running the emergency cool-down functions. That was the problem with firing the penetrator round. All CA-SR's were capable of firing the round, however the massive heat generated by firing it made it impractical to use as regular ammo. Not to mention the fact that it didn't use the regular shavings off of a block of metal but an actual bullet made the Mark 12 Penetrator round only useful against tanks and lined up infantry. As the Colossus hit the ground I noticed that it was very quiet on the comms. "You know, you just don't get to appreciate the Mark 12 Penetrator round until you see it take out a fully armored Colossus in a single shot. I hope you got that on the Mako cams Shep. I want to watch that a hundred times." I said breaking the silence.

"What... Was... That?" Shepard asked shocked.

"Didn't you hear me?" I asked cheerfully. "That was the Mark 12 Penetrator round."

"It just took out a Colossus in one hit!" Garrus exclaimed.

"Damnit Wraith!" Shepard exclaimed. "You stole our kill!"

"Hehe. Hey I had to pay back the favor. And what better way to do so than to take out a Colossus with one shot?" I said laughing.

"You know Wraith? I want one of those." Wrex said.

"Good luck with that Wrex. The recoil is so bad it would blow off the arm of a human using it, if they didn't have a Nanosuit to absorb the recoil." I said. "I don't know what it would do to a Krogan, but it might dislocate your shoulder."

"Ok, we can talk about how overpowered your rifle is after the mission." Shepard said. "But now lets go on. Now according to the map, we have to go through two tunnels to get to the place where we have to leave the Mako. I say that you should just run next to us Wraith. There shouldn't be anything that will pose too much of a problem to us."

"Copy that Shepard. First I have to check this Colossus and sniper for anything worth upgrading." I said, setting my rifle back in normal fire mode and putting the ammo block back in. I jogged towards the colossus and had SECOND run a scan on the Colossus.

"_**Scanning. . . Scan complete. Weak points are similar to Armature. However, Powerline is heavily armored. Knife would be insufficient. Storing Colossus data."**_

_Ahh well. It's not like I am going to be knifing a Colossus anyway. _"Alright Shepard, lets go." I said before running towards the tunnel.

"_**Maximum Power"**_

The Mako soon, drove up beside me and kept pace with me, as we entered the tunnel. Upon reaching the end of the tunnel, the road sloped down and a few Geth stood in our way. Jumping up I pulled out my knife before coming down on a rocket trooper and stabbing it through the neck. Wrex blasted another two away with the cannon while I spun, taking out my pistol and shooting the last one multiple times in the head.

"That was too easy" Wrex grumbled.

"I am sure that you will get the fight you are looking for later Wrex." Shepard said amused.

"You know... I never realized just how much Therum looks like Mustafar." I commented as I looked out along a large lava lake we were going past.

"It does look like Mustafar doesn't it?" Shepard said agreeing with me as we entered the next tunnel.

Halfway through the tunnel we came across two Geth rocket troopers waiting for us. Before I could pull out my assault rifle, Shepard gunned the accelerator in the Mako and sped up before running over the two Geth. "That's one way to kill Geth I guess" I said smirking slightly as I caught up to the Mako.

"Hell yes. Roll over them!" Wrex responded.

At the end of the tunnel there were again three Geth rocket troopers waiting for us but Wrex blasted them all with one cannon blast before they could get a shot off. A little farther and we arrived at the end of the road, where there was a small opening to allow us further on foot. "This is as far as we go with the Mako gentlemen." Shepard said. "We are going to finish this mission on foot."

"Good, now I can actually do something" Garrus said, "Between Wrex manning the cannon, Shepard driving and Wraith out here doing whatever he wants, I'm feeling left out." He complained lightly.

"Well you are in luck now Garrus. I am sure that there will be more Geth soon." Shepard responded as we walked through the small pass. "Alright everyone, keep your guard up."

"Take em down!" Wrex called out as a few Geth attacked us, including a Geth painted in white.

"_**New threat detected: Geth Shock Trooper."**_

Wrex charged forward raising his shotgun and blasted a rocket trooper in the face. Shepard was right behind him blasting the shock trooper with a carnage before hitting the last rocket trooper with a biotic throw blasting it into the wall. Garrus sniped one of the Geth troopers while I killed the last with a few bursts from my assault rifle.

"There we go" Garrus said while I walked to the fallen shock trooper and started a scan. "I finally got to shoot something."

"_**Scanning. . . Scan Complete. Shock troopers are equipped with a shotgun and have strong shields. They are capable of setting up Barriers to provide cover."**_

"Yes Garrus, we know how boring it must have been for you sitting in the back of the Mako unable to do anything." I heard Shepard say amused "Now if Wraith is done lets get going." Shepard said.

"Yes ma'am!" I responded, earning a slight glare from Shepard.

"Alright, stay sharp people. There are bound to be a lot of Geth around here." Shepard ordered before we turned the corner. When we did, there was a rather large group of Geth waiting for us.

"You were saying?" I asked smirking slightly.

"_**Warning, Long range threats detected: Geth Snipers." **_SECOND informed me highlighting their positions.

"Get in cover! Snipers in the tower!" I shouted over the sound of gunfire and ricochets.

"Wraith! Garrus! Take them out." Shepard ordered us.

"On it!" Garrus said.

"Garrus take the one in the closer tower I got the one further away!" I told Garrus while lining up my shot.

"Scoped and dropped!" Came Garrus's gleeful shout after hearing his rifle go off. I took my shot soon after smirking slightly at Garrus's shout.

"Snipers are eliminated." I said "Moving on to the others oh..." I said trailing off seeing that Shepard and Wrex were just finishing up the last Geth shock trooper. "Well that's just great."

"Not time for chit chat! More Geth on the ridge!" Shepard said pointing towards a point out of my view. I ran out to where Shepard was taking cover behind a low rock and peered towards the ridge.

"SECOND can you give me some tactical options?" I asked.

"_**Affirmative. Showing tactical options now."**_ Two markers came up on my display. One was giving me the option of cloaking around the Geth and hitting them from the side while the other gave me the option of jumping up over the ridge and hitting the Geth headon.

"I know what Jackal would do..." I muttered seeing the option of jumping over the ridge "Shepard! Can you hold their fire while I hit them from the side?" I asked her.

She glanced around, instantly seeing what I meant to do and nodded "Yeah. Just get there fast!" She told me before shouting to Garrus and Wrex. "Switch to your assault rifles! Keep them focused on us, Wraith is going around. Be ready to charge up the hill!"

"_**Cloak engaged"**_

I crept up the side of the ridge slowly to keep my energy from depleting to quickly, when I noticed that my energy seemed to be depleting slower than normal. "SECOND, why is my energy depleting slower than normal?" I asked, turning off my helmets exterior speakers.

"_**High thermal energy coming from envionment allows for faster energy recharge rates and longer use of energy requiring functions"**_

"Sweet." I muttered, coming up beside the Geth I started creeping past them and headed to the back of the Geth positions. "Shepard. I'm in position. There are about two Geth snipers, 3 shock troopers and 5 normal troopers up here. I am engaging now." I said uncloaking and aimed my assault rifles Grenade launcher in the middle of the Geth formation. The blast took out 3 of the troopers, 2 of the shock troopers and one sniper. The last shock trooper and the regular Geth turned towards me and opened fire.

"_**Maximum Armor"**_

I opened fire with the assault rifle taking down one of the troopers and a shock trooper and started firing on the last trooper and sniper when the Geth sniper fell down, its head missing. My rifle chose that moment to overheat and I started charging towards the trooper. When I hit the Geth two things happened. First the Geth went flying and I heard Shepard screaming my name. Time seemed to slow down as I turned towards Shepard to see a bolt of biotic energy rushing towards me, Shepard looking horrified in the back. As the warp hit me I felt my suit twisting and turning on a molecular level. It was attempting to compensate for the sudden change in molecular structure and failing. Pain ripped through my chest as what was left of the warp hit me after tearing through the suit. I fell to the ground, my visor darkened and a view of my suit came up, a section on my chest highlighted in red,

"_**Warning, Catastrophic suit damage. Switching to mass repair mode. Life-support priority. Warning, User damage detected. Injecting Emergency Nanocells. Life-support priority. Warning Deep layer protocols engaging. Advanced healing engaging. Repairing systems. Analyzing attack. . ."**_

The pain in my chest slowly eased and as my visor cleared Shepard's panicked face swam into view above me. "Ugh... Did someone get the number of that tank?" I said groggily.

"Wraith! Just stay calm. Everything is going to be ok." Shepard said panicked, looking at the chest piece, obviously clueless how to proceed to administer first aid which thankfully wouldn't be needed.

"Yeah, I know. I'm fine." I said trying to move and found that SECOND had locked the nanosuit down.

"What do you mean you're fine? I just hit you with a warp! That's not something you just get up from!" Shepard cried out.

"The suit took most of the damage. I just barely got hit by it." I responded "It seems that biotics are very bad for the suit... Damn should have thought about that before. The suit doesn't have any defenses against attacks at a molecular level. Definitely have to change that. I wonder..." I muttered trailing off thinking about the changes that would have to be done to protect against biotics.

Shepard's voice pulled me from my thoughts "I am so sorry Wraith... I should have been more careful."

"Eh. It wasn't your fault. I shouldn't have charged in like that. It's a sure way to get hit by friendlies." I responded reassuring her since she looked very shaken at hitting me.

"No, I was careless and now your suit is pretty damaged by the looks of it." Shepard said still upset.

"Don't worry about it, the suit is repairing it self. Soon it will be repaired to the amount that I can get back in the fight, I will just have to be a bit more careful, as it wont be as strong as it would normally be." I said.

"_**All systems rerouted. Cleared to proceed. Warning: Suit integrity 50%. Attack analysis complete. Attack Targeted Nanoshell on molecular level. Searching for counter. . ."**_

"See? There we go!" I moved to stand up, groaning from the pain in the process "Ugh. It's looking for a way to counter the warp. I doubt it can find anything. Warp attacks the suit on a molecular level with massive force. I doubt that the suit could find anything to protect against it that isn't related to biotics on some measure." I mused.

"Why not?" Garrus asked curious.

"The suits armor mode works by changing the outer layers into a form to absorb damage. Mainly kinetic. Same with cloak only it changes into something to become invisible. Warp would just tear through the suit in any mode, at least as far as I know." I explained. "Now let's finish this op and get off of this planet."

"I want you to be careful Wraith. I don't want to have to explain to CryNet why their top Phantom died under my watch." Shepard said.

"Will do Shep. I suggest you take point. I don't want to risk being caught alone." I said.

"Alright..." Shepard nodded, "You know what... I want you to head up on that rock there. Provide us with sniper support." Shepard said pointing to a tall rock.

"Good idea Shep. I'll tell you when I'm set up." I responded and started jumping up to the rock that she pointed out. As I reached the top I scanned the area and radioed Shepard. "Alright, I have a goodsniper's nest up here. Setting up." I took out my Sniper rifle and unfolded the bipod. "SECOND, spot for me." As I looked through the scope I saw a small red dot, right where the bullet would hit, thanks to SECOND's on the fly calculations. "Shepard. I am in position. There is a camp ahead. No targets in sight. The entrance to the digis on the right. There are three silos on the left and a walkway leading from the silos to a building in the air above the entrance to the dig site. Proceed slowly and carefully."

"Got it. Proceeding."

I watched as Shepard and her squad slowly walked towards the dig site. "Wraith, our radar just got jammed! Can you see what's jamming us?" Shepard said as they neared the camp.

"Roger, hold position until I give you the go ahead." I said before beginning a more careful search of the area. "I can't see anything, proceed with extreme caution." I said after a careful search.

"Affirmative." As they entered the camp, I saw movement. "What the . ." Came Garrus's voice as I saw something jump down from underneath the walkway in the middle of the camp and crawled to the left before jumping onto a wall and away.

"Geth!" Came Wrex's shout as a dropship flew overhead and dropped an armature and some other Geth down.

"Wraith! Take out the rest of the Geth while we concentrate on the Armature!" Shepard ordered.

My response was lining up a shot on a sniper in the back and taking its head off. I was working with pinpoint efficiency. SECOND would mark a target for termination and I would line up a shot. Every time my rifle cracked a Geth would fall to the ground. Soon I just had to deal with the Geth Hoppers as I was calling them as every time I tried to get a shot off they would jump to a new position. "Wraith, deal with those jumpers!" Shepard said agitatedly as she was pouring the fire on the armature.

"I can't get a shot off! Either they are not in my line of sight, or they jump before I can shoot! What are these things anyway?" I said angrily.

"_**Threat Identified: Geth Stalkers and Geth Ghosts."**_

"Well that's one question answered." I muttered.

"Damnit, Wrex hit them with a throw! Knock em down so Wraith can shoot them!" Shepard ordered.

"Got it." Wrex grunted before throwing one of the hoppers off of its perch and onto the ground where it lay stunned for a few seconds. Long enough for me to take it out with a shot to the neck. Shepard went next blasting the next hopper into the air where using SECOND's calculations I shot it in midair. The last hopper made the mistake of jumping to the ground which allowed me to easily take its head off.

"Its shields are down pour it on!" Shepard shouted as the Armatures Shields went down, however its armor was still considerable I started aiming for the joints of its legs hoping to immobilize it to allow Shepard to take it out. "SECOND, target, front right leg joint." I took the shot, blowing a hole into the joint causing the Armature to topple to the ground.

"Nice shooting!" Garrus called out to me as Shepard ran up to the toppeled Armature and shot its head point black with her shotgun, causing its head to explode.

"_**All targets down. Cleared to proceed."**_

"Alright Shepard. Thats it. I'm coming down." I said folding up my sniper and placing it on my back.

"Copy that," Came her reply.

"SECOND, whats the status on the repairs?" I asked.

"_**Suit integrity at 78% Note: Warp resistance online. Warp resistance will lower effectiveness of Warp attacks directed against User. Recommend upload to CryTech database."**_

"What the . .?" I said astonished "How the hell did it do that? It should be impossible for the suit to protect itself against warp. I. . . You know... The suit surprises even it's designer.." I said.

"So it was able to find a counter to Warp?" Shepard asked.

"Not quite. It built up a resistance to it. That means that next time it probably won't go through the suit and hit me, allowing me to get in cover." I said still astounded.

"That's good. It means that if you get hit on the battlefield that you wouldn't be incapacitated in the middle of a firefight, making you a easy target." Shepard commented.

"Exactly. Good work taking down the Armature by the way." I said as I started to scan the fallen Geth units.

"_**New Armature data acquired. Energy Regeneration upgrade continued. 40% complete. Deflection upgrade continued. 60% complete."**_

"It was easy, you did the hard part by shooting it in the leg." Shepard said waving away my complement.

"Eh I had SECOND helping me." I said as I walked to the fallen Geth Stalkers and ghost.

"_**Geth Stalker and Ghost Scans complete. Continuing upgrades. Mobility Enhancement 15%, 25%, 35% Complete. Anti-jamming, 20% complete."**_

"True, but you were the one firing the rifle weren't you?" Wrex commented as we head towards the door leading to the ruins.

"Details" I said smirking slightly under my mask.

"The details are usually more important." Garrus said as Shepard opened the door and we were greeted by a long sloping corridor.

"Damnit, why is it that everyone seems to think that I am this super awesome sniper? You think that's impressive? You should see Bolt, or even Eagle. Bolt can hit a butterfly in flight at 300 meters."

"Yes but we weren't talking about hitting butterflies now were we? We were saying that you are obviously a good sniper." Shepard said with a smile at me that.

"You aren't that bad with a shotgun yourself." I said looking at her, and thumbing towards the headless lump of metal.

"_**Warning, Hostiles detected."**_

"Stay close and keep alert. Wraith, go ahead." Shepard ordered me.

"Got it."

"_**Warning. Suit integrity 91%. Unable to completely engage cloaking."**_

"On second thought, tell me how cloaked I am." I said before cloaking completely.

"Uh... There is a rather large part of your chest uncloaked." Shepard said.

"Damn. Then I would rather stay close to the squad. I don't want to risk being hit in my chest since it would most likely be unable to armor up as normal." I said.

"Alright, stay close. Move up squad." Shepard ordered.

"Two Geth below!" Garrus called out as we came out on a catwalk.

"Take them down!" Shepard called before she peppered a Geth shock trooper with fire. Wrex took down the Snipers shields and Garrus drilled it through the optics. As the Shock trooper's shields went down it deployed a kinetic barrier up in front of it. I took the opportunity to put a few rounds into a gas container lying behind it, blowing the Trooper to smithereens. _Guess no upgrades from him._

"Alright, head down there. I think that there is an elevator there that we should take down." Shepard said.

"I've never been in a Prothean ruin before." I commented as we walked towards the elevator. "It's interesting to say the least."

"What about the Citadel? That's Prothean." Garrus said giving me the Turian equivalent of a smirk.

"Ugh. You know what I mean." I responded as we entered the elevator.

"That is true. It seems that the Protheans built to last, if it survived this long." Shepard said looking around. "It's is even still in rather good shape."

As the elevator opened and we stepped out onto the catwalk, three Geth assault drones came up from below us. Shepard pulled out her shotgun and blasted the first one at the same time as I pulled out my assault rifle and took the second down. Wrex charged forward and blasted the last drone in two.

"Sterile white. The Protheans sure built things homey." Wrex commented.

"That's true." Shepard responded as we entered the next elevator leading down.

About three quarters of the way down the elevator's gears and brakes started sparking.

"_**Warning elevator structural failure."**_

"Uh"

The elevator started falling the rest of the way. "HOLD ON!" Shepard shouted. Our fall came to an abrupt stop, knocking us off our feet.

"Ow... And that is why you should not exceed the maximum load of an elevator people." I said.

"Is everyone alright?" Shepard asked us concerned.

"I'm fine." Garrus responded.

"It would take more than a little fall to hurt me Shepard." Wrex grunted.

"Look at who you are asking Shep." I said.

"Alright, open this door and drop down there." Shepard ordered.

"Got it Shep." I said.

"_**Maximum Power"**_

I pulled the door up, jumped down and looked around. I had landed on a broken catwalk at the bottom of the ruins. Shepard jumped down after me soon followed by Garrus and Wrex. It was then that we heared a voice calling up to us.

"Uh... Hello? Could somebody help me? Please?"

When we dropped down off of the catwalk we saw the speaker.

"Can you hear me out there? I am trapped I need help!" The speaker was an Asari hanging in some kind of bubble behind a large kinetic barrier.

"Liara T'soni I presume?" Shepard asked.

"Thank the Goddess! I Did not think that anyone would come looking for me. I am trapped in some kind of Prothean security device. I can't move, so I need you to get me out of it all right?" Liara answered.

"How did you end up in there?" I asked.

"I was exploring the ruins when the Geth showed up, so I hid in here. Can you believe that? Geth! Beyond the Veil!" She responded.

"Yeah, I think that we can believe that, due to the fact that we just blasted through a few of them on our way here." I responded dryly.

"I activated the tower's defenses. I knew that the barrier would be able to keep them out." She continued "But when I turned it on I must have hit something I wasn't supposed to. I was trapped in here. You must get me out. Please."

"Yeah. That's what happens when you mess with unknown technology. I know the feeling." Shepard muttered.

"You would Shep. You would." I responded.

"Your mother is working with Saren. Whose side are you on?" Garrus asked Liara.

"What? I am not on anybody's side! I may be Benezia's daughter but I have not spoken to her in years! Please. Just get me out of here." Liara said.

"We will find some way to help you Liara." Shepard said.

"There is a control here that will allow you to turn this off, but you would have to find a way past the barrier." Liara said, motioning towards a console beside her with her head.

"My guess is that there are no conveniently located buttons out here to turn off the barrier?" I asked sardonically.

"No. It can only be shut down from the inside." Liara answered.

"Why are these things never simple?" I asked myself.

"Don't worry Liara. We will get you out of there." Shepard said reassuringly.

"Any ideas?" I asked.

"Yeah. Let's deal with these Geth first." Came Shepard's reply as she saw movement in the cavern behind us.

"Take them out!" Wrex shouted charging down the ramp leading towards the cavern.

"I'll take em from up here Shepard!" I said before running into a position with a good view of the cavern.

"Good idea! Garrus join him. I'm going down to help Wrex." Shepard said as she too headed down the ramp.

"Looks like Wrex doesn't need help." I muttered commenting on Wrex's performance down there while drilling a sniper first.

"Indeed" Garrus chuckled as he took out the other sniper.

With the snipers down we were able to take shots at the Geth that Wrex and Shepard were not engaging at the moment. "I wonder what that is." Garrus said after a few shots.

"What?" I asked looking over at him.

"That." Garrus said pointing towards some kind of mining machinery.

"_**Object Identified. Object matches profiles of a mining laser. Note: Mining laser could be used to blast a hole in wall to reach Dr. T'soni."**_

"I think we just solved the problem of getting through to Liara." I said "That there is a mining laser. I think you can see how that would be useful."

"Ahh. Very good." Garrus said.

"Do you boys see anymore Geth here?" Shepard radioed as she finished off the last shock trooper.

"Negative Shepard. All threats neutralized. Garrus here found something that should help us get through to Liara." I responded jumping down to the cavern floor.

"Oh?" Shepard asked.

"Yeah. That's a mining laser. We should be able to hack it and blast a way through the wall." Garrus said.

"Nice. Good job garrus." Shepard said as I walked towards the Laser and allowed SECOND to interface with it.

"SECOND, Hack into this laser Blast a way through."

"_**Affirmative. Processing. . . Establishing control. Control established...**_

_**...IMMA FIRIN MA LAZOR!" **_The shout echoed around the cavern before the Mining laser blasted through the wall, allowing us entry to the Prothean tower.

"What the. . ." Came Shepard's voice.

"_Haha!_ SECOND seems to have gotten a sense of humor!" I said chortling.

"Uh. . . is that normal?" Garrus asked cautiously.

"No." I said chuckling "But I see no problem with it do you? A little humor is good for the soul."

"If you say so" Garrus said warily.

I joined the rest of the squad just as they reached what looked like a large elevator in the center of the Tower.

"Um... Slight problem here." Shepard said looking at the elevator controls. "These are in Prothean."

"Ahh. I can see how that would be problematic. SECOND, see if you can't figure out how to work this thing." I said, grabbing hold of the terminal.

"_**Affirmative. Processing. . . Establishing control. Control established. Raising elevator one floor."**_

"There we go." I said nodding. "If in doubt, use an AI."

"Good job." Shepard said as the elevator moved up to where Liara was trapped in her bubble.

"How did you get in here? I didn't think that there was a way past the barrier!" Liara asked as we approached her.

"If you find a mining laser, its quite simple. You just blast through. Surely you heard the noise?" Shepard asked.

"Of course yes. That makes sense. Please get me out before more Geth arrive. That button over there should shut down this containment field." Liara said.

"Hold. Let's have SECOND deal with this. We don't want you to press another button that will cause something worse to happen now do we?" I asked walking towards the terminal and allowing SECOND to interface with it.

"_**Establishing Control. . . Control Established. Releasing security systems. Security systems released."**_

T'soni landed on the floor on all fours as the bubble keeping her there dissipated.

"Any idea how we can get out of this place?" Garrus asked after Liara got up.

"Yeah, does that elevator in the center lead up to the top?" Shepard asked.

"It should lead take us out of here." Liara said.

"Got it. Lets go boys." Shepard said and we walked towards the Elevator. "Wraith, get this elevator moving."

"Got it Shep." I said before SECOND began to bring the elevator up to the top.

"I still cannot believe this. Why would the Geth come after me? Do you think Benezia's involved?" Liara asked.

"Saren is looking for the Conduit. You're a Prothean expert. Obviously he wants you to help him find it." Garrus explained.

"The Conduit? But I don't know-" Liara was interrupted by a loud rumbling that shook the tower.

"What the hell was that?" Wrex asked.

"_**Ruins unstable. Mining laser triggered seismic event. Suggestion: Evacuation of ruins required."**_

"We have to hurry this whole place is caving in!" Liara said.

"Joker! Get the Normandy airborn and lock in on my signal. On the double mister!" Shepard ordered Joker over the comms.

"Aye, Aye Commander. Secure and aweigh. ETA eight minutes." Came Joker's swift reply.

"If I die in here I'll kill him" Wrex said.

"We have to get out of here now!" I said as we arrived at the top, only to be confronted by a Krogan Battlemaster, a Shock trooper, a rocket trooper and a sniper.

"Surrender! Or don't that would be more fun." The Battlemaster said to us.

"Ugh, SECOND are the repairs finished yet?" I asked quietly.

"_**Suit Repairs, 100%"**_

"We don't have time to deal with this idiot! Kill em!" Shepard said taking out her shotgun followed by Wrex taking his out and Garrus taking out his assault rifle.

"I like your attitude!" The battlemaster said.

"I thought you'd never ask." I said grinning under my mask.

"_**Maximum power"**_

I charge forward taking out my knife in the process. Leaping up I stabbed down on the Battlemaster only to have him jump to the side and try to punch me. Spinning around I avoided his strike before slashing out with my knife, scoring a hit on his arm.

"Heh Its been a long time since I had a worthy opponent." The battlemaster said before flaring biotically and throwing me into a pillar. Hitting the pillar feet first I immediately kicked off, switching my knife to my left hand. Right before I flew over the Battlemaster, SECOND changed the suits outer texture to have a lot of air friction, causing my trajectory to change to land right on top of the Krogan, SECOND then caused a combination of things to happen. First my right arm received a strength boost. Second, my right fist engaged armor. As I came down on top of the Krogan, I hit him with a super powered punch which went right through his skull and impacted on the ground leaving a fist shaped dent.

"Holy shit!" Garrus exclaimed.

I turned to see them all staring at the Battlemaster's exploded head.

"_**Tissue detected. Activating interface. Processing tissue. . . Tissue processing complete. Storing Biotic Krogan Battlemaster Data."**_

"Now is not the time people! This place is going down we need to get out now!" I said quickly.

"You heard the man, lets move people! Get out of here!" Shepard yelled and we started running towards the exit with me bringing up the rear. As we came out where we came in rocks began falling all over the place. All of a sudden after Liara passed over a point on the catwalk a large boulder fell down and destroyed the walkway in front of me. Without hesitation, I jumped over the gaping hole rolling as I came up and started running again. "GO! GO! GO!" Shepard yelled as she let Wrex, Garrus and Liara past her. She started running again right before I got to her and we both sprinted up the long corridor to the surface. Just before we got above ground, there was a massive crash and we were enveloped in a large cloud of dust. Finally emerging above ground, everyone stopped to catch their breath, or in my case to allow the suit to recharge.

I looked up to see the Normandy coming down and said, "Evac has arrived. Lets get out of here."

"_**Objective complete. Mission successful."**_

_Alright, Chapter six we will learn how the Nanosuit and Crynet came into being. You might have noticed that I started to call what used to be CryDev CryTech, because well it sounds alot better. At first I didn't want to call it that because of the real company CryTek but I decided to use it anyway. I will go back and change everything in the later chapters back to fit CryTech._

_Can you find the Starcraft 2 Reference in this Chapter?_

_Please Review, I would love to hear your feedback._

_Listening to Crysis 2 Soundtrack (Its pretty cool)_


	6. Chapter 6: Operation of Old, Ilium

_Wraith:Whats this? An Update? Well its been about time don't you think? _

_LEGION: Sorry about the long wait. I would have had this chapter out a month after the last one but a few things got in the way. Firstly I have been working ALOT on my other secret project because the entire universe of that story had to be hammered out and let me tell you guys that was not very easy. It took over 4 months to just work out the basic outline of the first part and work out how the two universes of ME and the other one would fit together into a brand new universe. So that took quite a bit of my time. Then Inheritance came out the fourth and last book of the inheritance series so that was about one week where I didnt do much in the way of anything besides reading and some school stuff. Then Skyrim came out and well there went another two weeks of pretty much only playing skyrim. another few weeks after that of playing skyrim some more. And then I had a little bit of time before Star Wars: The Old Republic came out and I tried to do some stuff there but then I had alot of exams for school. Then of course on the 14 I got my SW: TOR early access and Ive been playing that ever since. So yea... I am sorry about the long wait and I will try to get a new chapter out every month however I cant make any promises. SORRY! Anyway onward to the story!_

_SECOND:** Disclaimer**__**: LEGION does not own Mass Effect or Crysis. Bioware and CryTek do. **_

* * *

><p>After boarding the Normandy, I soon found myself sitting down in the briefing room with Shepard to my left. Kaiden sat down on my right and Ashley on his right. Garrus sat opposite me with Tali and Liara sitting beside him and Wrex took the last seat next to Liara for himself. As Shepard entered the comm room in her casual clothes Joker called in "Too close, Commander. Ten more seconds and we would've been swimming in molten sulfur. The Normandy isn't equipped to land in exploding volcanoes. They tend to fry our sensors and melt our hull. Just for future reference." Joker finished and I grinned underneath my mask.<p>

"We almost died out there and your pilot is making jokes?" Liara asked disbelieving.

"That's Joker for you." Shepard said still smiling, "It eases the tension."

"Not to mention absolutely true." I said "The Normandy isn't equipped to land in volcanoes. At least I don't think so."

"I see. It must be a human thing. I don't have a lot of experience with your species, Commander." Liara responded. "But I am grateful to you. You saved my life back there. And not just from the volcano. Those Geth would have killed me. Or dragged me off to Saren."

"What did Saren want with you? Do you know something about the conduit?" Kaiden asked.

"Only that it was somehow connected to the Prothean extinction. That in my real area of expertise. I have spent the past 50 years trying to figure out what happened to them." She responded.

"Did your research turn up anything interesting?" Shepard asked.

"What is interesting is what I didn't turn up. There is remarkably little archeological evidence of the Protheans. And even less that might explain why they disappeared." Liara said.

"So someone came along and wiped the galaxy of clues. Especially that of their disappearance." I mused.

"Indeed. But here is the incredible part. According to my findings, the Protheans were not the first galactic civilization to mysteriously vanish. This cycle began long before them." Liara continued.

"What cycle? What are you talking about?" Shepard asked.

"The galaxy is built on a cycle of extinction. Every time a great civilization rises up, it is suddenly and violently cast down. Only ruins survive." Liara responded.

"So the Protheans created their massive empires by climbing on top of the ones who came before?" I asked.

"Yes. Their greatest achievements- the Mass Relays and the Citadel- are based on the technology of those who came before them. And then, like all other races, they vanished. I have dedicated my life to finding out why." Liara said.

"They were wiped out by a race of sentient machines. The Reapers." Shepard cut in.

"The- The Reapers? But I have never heard of- How do you know this? What evidence do you have?" Liara asked slightly unbelieving.

"There was a damaged Prothean beacon on Eden Prime. It burned a vision into my brain. I'm still trying to sort out what it all means." Shepard responded.

"Visions? Yes that makes sense. The beacons were designed to transmit imformation directly into the mind. Finding one that works is extremely rare. No wonder the Geth attacked Eden Prime. The chance to acquire a working beacon, even a badly damaged one, is worth almost any risk." Liara said.

"So the beacons transmit information directly into the mind. I would guess that they were designed to work with a Prothean mind. That would be why the vision is so unclear." I said.

"I am amazed you were able to make sense of it at all. A lesser mind would have been utterly destroyed by the process. You must be remarkably strong willed commander." Liara said admiringly.

"This isn't helping us find Saren. Or the Conduit." Kaiden cut in abruptly.

"Find them? No. But think about the possibilities." I said.

"True. As it is, I don't know why Saren wanted you out of the picture. But I think we'll be a lot better off if we bring you along." Shepard said.

"Thank you Commander. Saren might come after me again, and I believe that I will be safest here on your ship. And my knowledge might come in useful later on." Liara said gratefully getting up.

"And her biotics will come in handy when the fighting starts." Wrex commented from his seat.

"Indeed. They might even be useful in figuring out how my suit interacts with biotics." I commented.

"Good to have you on the team Liara." Shepard said smiling.

"Thank you, Commander I am very grateful- oh" Liara broke of swaying slightly "I am afraid I am feeling a bit light headed."

"When was the last time you ate? Or slept? Dr. Chakwas should take a look at you." Kaiden said concerned.

"It is probably just some exhaustion and shock of discovering the Prothean true fate. I need some time to process all of this. Still it would not hurt to be looked over by a medical professional. Are we finished here Commander?" Liara asked.

"Go see the docter. The rest of you... Dismissed!" Shepard ordered.

"Mission reports are filed Commander." Joker called in as every one stood up "You want me to patch you through to the Council?"

"Patch em through Joker" Shepard said as I left. I headed down the stairs before walking towards my office. Entering the office I looked around before sitting down at my computer. "SECOND Lock and secure the door. If it's Shepard, tell me." I said.

"_**Door locked."**_

After scanning the room to make sure there were no bugs anywhere I opened a secure channel to Derek, the head of CryTech.

"Martin! What can I do for you?" He asked.

"Two things, Derek. Firstly I think that those Prothean beacons could be the breakthrough in neurological technology we've been looking for." I said.

"Oh really?" He asked coming down to business.

"Yes. I had a suspicion that they would but I haven't been able to follow through on that. Now The Prothean beacon on Eden Prime was destroyed in an overload, so there probably isn't much left that could be of any use, however I would still suggest sending someone to scan it and get as much data as possible. Ideally get the entire beacon, but I don't know how the Alliance is dealing with it at the moment. If you can get it, get it. Pose as a Prothean artifact collecter and buy the damn thing, I don't know. If you can't but it, get them to scan it. We might be able to get quite a bit off of this." I said.

"You got it Wraith. If you find any more interesting tech on your adventures give me a call." Derek said.

"Yeah... about that. The Nanosuit did something astounding. You know how the suit shouldn't be able to make a counter against biotics? Well I got hit by a warp on Therum. It blasted through the suit. Pretty much made a huge hole in the chest. It was mostly stopped , but I still got hit pretty bad." I said.

"How bad?" Derek asked.

"It activated deep layer protocols to heal me and repair the suit." I stated.

"Damn."

"Yeah. It did more damage than a high explosive shell would." I said. "But, what really surprised me was after that it seems that the suit created a resistance to Warp. It actually created a defence against biotics."

"What? I. . . That's. . . You got to get that data over here ASAP." Derek said. "That is amazing, The possibilities..."

"Yeah I know. I think that I need a cradle here. If anything else happens then I can send it straight to you." I said.

"I... yeah. I'll get a cradle ready for install. Next time you are on the Citadel pick it up." He said.

"Will do Derek." I responded cutting off the transmission. "SECOND, what kind of data did you get from Therum?" I asked, deciding to see what upgrades I can do for my suit.

"_**Analysis of data collected on Therum complete. Geth Colossus and Armature scans indicate a possibility to enhance armor. Initial study indicates a 50% decrease in energy required to maintain armor. Geth sniper scans indicate the use of radar jamming devices. Creation of anti-jamming is possible."**_

"Good. I want you to enhance the armor and incorporate the anti-jamming device into the shell." I said.

"_**Affirmative. Upgrading. Note: Upgrading procedures will take time."**_ SECOND informed me and a status bar popped up on my visor.

"Gotcha. You can unlock the door now." I said leaning back and bringing up my CryNet Command screen on my visor, I noticed that Ambassador Udina had contacted the Director, AKA me, with a complaint regarding my refusal to give him Intelligence about Saren after his hearing.

Dear Ambassador Udina,

I understand your concerns, however Operative Wraith acted in full authority of the situation. Phantom Agents are tasked to keep all sensitive information to themselves, unless they see a very good reason for informing others. Also CryNet, and as such CryOps Phantoms, are not a part of the Alliance, or any human government. CryNet is a subsidiary of Alpha tech and Science, as such does not take orders from any ambassador.

Have a Nice Day,

Martin Duncan, Director of CryNet systems.

As I finished off the message to Udina, Shepard walked in the door.

"Shepard! What can I do for ya?" I asked.

"Just came to check in, see how you are doing. I still can't believe that you survived that warp attack" She responded.

"I'm fine and don't worry about it. I just finished sending a message off to Udina. The guy decided to complain about my actions at Saren's hearing. Little does he know he is complaining to the guy hes complaining about. Kinda interesting if you think about it." I said.

"Yeah, he's an ass." Shepard said.

"He's a politician. And he does some good work for the advancement of humanity, however yes he can be an ass at times" I said.

"Maybe... I have some questions for you Wraith. Mind if you answer some of them?" She asked me.

"Sure, no problem. I might not be able to answer all your questions if they are classified, but I will do my best." I answered "But first lets lock the door, I don't want anyone hearing something they aren't supposed to."

"_**Door Locked and secured."**_

"Good. Means I can take this mask off." I said as a hiss escaped my helmet as it unsealed. "There we go, so ask away."

"I'm curious about the Nanosuit and CryNet. Could you tell me how it all started?" She asked me.

"Sure." I said leaning back "I was the lead researcher and designer of the Nanosuit Program. Back then it was still a part of Alpha Tech. I was hired right after my parents were killed in a robbery, when I was 15."

"15?" Shepard asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, I was young, but I was hurting. Also I was, if I do say so myself, pretty damn smart. I had already planned on joining Alpha Tech after I graduated. When my parents died I wanted to do something. I didn't want to study, I wanted to help people, and the best way to do that was by working at Alpha Tech and research ways of helping people. Then when I turned 18 Alpha Tech got their hands on some ancient artifacts. Older than the Protheans, far older."

"How old?" She asked me.

"Our best guesses at the time were somewhere between 150,000 and 200,000 years ago." I said.

"Wow... That's ancient." Shepard said amazed.

"Yeah, as far as we can tell, they were a very advanced race, not in mass effect technology, they were perhaps on the same scale as we are now in Mass Effect tech. They were extremely advanced in nano and energy technology. Light years ahead of what we have now."

"Nanotechnology? What can you tell me about this race?" Shepard asked me.

"Not much, as far as we can tell, they evolved in an ocean and were similar to the octopi and squid on earth. We started calling them the Ceph, short for cephalopods. We don't know any more, only that they also disappeared suddenly. My best guess is that the Reapers wiped them out, just like they did with the Protheans." I said.

"Wow. Did Alpha Tech inform the Council of their findings?" She asked me.

"No. We didn't. We couldn't risk them messing with our business. If the Council found out then they would have wanted the artifacts for themselves." I responded. "Anyway, back to the story, so in 2165 we found the artifacts and I was assigned to research them. That's when I met Lynna." I trailed of smiling sadly before continuing "She was also assigned to the Ceph project as it became known as. A year later we started experimenting with the technology. Thats when we got some of our advanced AI tech, and the basic neurological tech found in the nanosuit now."

"Neurological tech?" Shepard asked slightly confused.

"Yeah, The suit can 'read' the mind of the user. It's how we change modes." I answered.

"Ah... That's interesting." She said.

"Yeah, well anyway, a year after that in '67 we created the first batch of CryFibril. This stuff." I said raising my left arm and running my hand over the hexagonal fibers on my suit. "It had remarkable properties. Able to fuse and bond to the human flesh and receive energy from all kinds of sources. Not to mention the different power up modes that came into being."

"Fuse and Bond?" Shepard asked.

"Heh, yeah, that was a drawback of the earlier versions of CryFibril. Tests indicated that It would fuse into the flesh, meaning it couldn't be removed. It was completely symbiotic. That was a major drawback later on. As it was it was huge. In '69, so two years after that, we designed the first prototype Nanosuit. It was simple; Just a suit made completely from CryFibril. 2170 it was completed. And I became the first test subject. It didn't do much, just boosted my endurance, speed and strength slightly. Nothing like the suit now does." I said.

"2170." Shepard stated her eyes unfocussing as she remembered Mindior.

"2170." I repeated sadly. "Our research lab was on Midior and I used the Nanoshell to try and save the colonists from the slavers. I only succeeded with one. You."

"And I thank you for that. The Batarians might have come back and gotten me as well." Shepard said still thinking back to that horrible day.

"Yeah, they might have... Anyway, after that I realized that I couldn't help people with research, so I proposed the Nanosuit Program. With the after affects of Mindior and the loss of one of our researchers, the rest of us agreed to proceed full speed with developing the Nanosuit to its full potential.

CryNet was founded one year after Mindior, as a subsidiary of Alpha Tech. The original researchers all joined CryNet and I was voted in as the Director of CryNet. Two years later the Nanosuit 1 was created. With the creation of the Nanosuit 1, a branch within CryNet was created; The Phantoms. I was chosen as the head of the Phantoms and relinquished control of the research division to Derek Antonov. From then on I would go on missions to go after criminals and terrorists.

In '76 CryNet was officially split into three subsections: CryTech, CryTell, and CryOps. That was when we became a big player in intergalactic society. CryOps was then split into the Phantoms and the Inquisitors. The Inquisitors are well known throughout the galaxy as ones to root out cirme and act as armed assault forces for terrorist situations. The Phantoms became elite special ops. We are contracted for anonymity. Another reason we get contracted is if someones hands are tied, as what happened on Akuze. We were contacted by an Alliance official who was unable to send someone to check in on you after you went dark. So he contacted us and I made my way there with due haste."

"And not a moment too soon..." Shepard muttered.

"Yes, not a moment to soon... If I had known that you were under attack by Thresher Maw's then I would have brought some more operatives with me. As it was, I was the one who headed out there." I said.

"If you don't mind me asking, why was it you who came? I mean now that I think about it, I do find it suspicious that you were the one who came on Akuze. You who had already met me on Mindior. After that you were the one on Torfan, and now you were on the Normandy for the shakedown." She said looking at me.

_Heh she got me_ I thought wryly before answering "Well to be honest I saw a bit of myself in you on Mindior. I had decided to keep an eye on you from that point on and when CryNet received the message about Akuze I immediately set off. Again on Torfan I volunteered for the assignment." I answered.

"So you were stalking me" Shepard asked smirking.

"If making sure that you wouldn't die anytime soon c ounts as stalking then yes." I quipped and we both laughed together. "As it was, after Akuze I suggested forming the Phantom Teams, and the first team was Raven team. We required a ship for our use and other Phantom teams and we began to design the first of the SIV's. That was also around the time that CryTech started developing weaponry and the Ghost armor, for use by the Inquisitors and the Phantoms. Well, the Ghost armor is for the Inquisitors, the Phantoms have the Nanosuit."

"The Origin is a SIV right?" Shepard asked me.

"Oh yeah, SIV's stand for Stealth Insertion Vehicle. As I told you before, they are equipped with advanced stealth systems, even better than those of the Normandy. Well, actually the Normandy has better thermal stealth systems, the Origin however includes a cloaking device, capable of fooling LADAR and RADAR, but can't keep the thermal stealth systems online for very long. And the cloaking requires large amounts of energy." I said.

"Is that the only type of starship that CryNet has?" Shepard asked me.

"No we also have the CSV." I responded.

"CSV?"

"Yeah, Combat Stealth Vehicle. It's a two man ship, armed to the teeth. Its like the spaceship equivalent of the Nanosuit." I explained.

"Oh really? So do you wear it?" Shepard asked jokingly.

"In a way." I responded smirking. "The pilot and the gunner wear a special helmet that interfaces with the nervous system, similar to the way the Nanosuit does, allowing the pilot and gunner to virtually become one with the ship, giving them direct view through sensors on the ship, and allowing them to increase reaction times just by thinking their commands."

"Wow... Why hasn't CryNet passed the technology on to the Alliance and the Council? Shepard asked me.

"We have." I responded. "The reason it isn't used too much is the unpleasant side effect that the users get. When you wear the helmet for any length of time you usually develop "God Syndrome" as we call it. The pilots get so used to the feeling of being one with the ship and getting all the sensory input that they can't really come out of it. Its like a very bad addiction."

"That's horrible!" Shepard exclaimed

"Yeah, that's why the Council doesn't use it too much, and all CSV pilots are informed of the side effects beforehand, so they are given a chance to rethink." I said.

"So that's the main reason why the CSV's are so good? The interface?" Shepard asked me.

"Well that and the ship in general. It's fast, maneuverable and packs some dangerous weaponry." I responded.

"It's almost unbelievable what you have at your disposal... So back on Eden prime, you mentioned something about SECOND saving your life assassinating a Crime Lord." She said.

"Ah yes. That mission. That was about two years ago, the Nanosuit Two had been finished a year before, and with that SECOND. CryNet had received intel that a crime lord was setting up shop on Ilium and I decided that it needed to be dealt with. . ."

_Flashback, Ilium_

I received intel that a new crime lord was starting up here on Ilium. I just didn't know where. I had spent the last month narrowing down the location of this new crime lord. It was not easy, Ilium has some annoying annoying laws. The fact that most of the drugs and weapons are legal around here didn't help things. I was unable to pinpoint the location by tracking red sand shipments, but I was able to narrow it down by tracking all inbound weapon shipments. Not much stood out at first, there were the regular shipments to the Police and the other known Merc organizations, when I was just about to give up on the weapon tracking SECOND found something suspicious.

It found that around the time that our intel showed that the crime lord started up there was a increase in Weapons purchased by a Police district near the equator. This increase continued getting bigger and the quality of the weapons also increased dramatically. It also showed that the weapons bought before this increase were still of the same quality, which I found suspicious. Thats how I found myself here, sneaking into the police headquarters at night. I had to make sure that I was not detected because if I was then the crime lord might decide to go to ground.

I was heading towards the main server room marked on my map that I received from CryTell. There were hardly any people here, and I just had to watch for cameras. But that was easy. Arriving at the server room, I heard two Asari talking to each other. I waited beside the door and listened to what they were saying.

"That new shipment came in today" Asari #1 said.

"Yeah, you made sure that the detective didn't notice anything?" Asari #2 asked.

"Of course! I'm not stupid." #1 responded indignantly.

"Just Checking!" #2 said. "You can't be too careful with this plan that Desana came up with."

"True but you have to admit it is brilliant. No one will notice if the police start buying more weapons, and this is the last shipment so we can get out of here tomorrow." #1 responded.

"Would you not shout all over the place that we are running a weapons smuggling operation here? There are cameras everywhere, and we are not supposed to be here." A third asari hissed.

"Oh don't worry about that, I looped the cameras ages ago."#2 said confidently.

"Maybe, but you never know who might be listening!" #3 said.

"Fine." #2 said annoyed and as I heard footsteps walking away from the other two my suit picked up #2 muttering to #1 "Tomorrow we will finally be gone from here and Miss Bossy. Did you inform the Chief of our resignation?"

"Yeah, I did that last week. She was sorry to see us go." #1 said chuckling.

"Good. Well I better get back to this terminal an remove any evidence of the weapons." #2 said.

"Got it, I'll watch for anyone." #1 said as I heard two pairs of footsteps walk away from each other.

I activated cloak and entered the room where I saw two the two Asari walking away from each other. #1 was walking along the wall and #2 was going to a console in the middle of the room. SECOND tagged the two Asari and I started walking around the room looking for Asari #3. As I turned in between two rows of databases I almost walked straight into Asari #3 who was walking towards me. I was just able to duck to the side and avoid knocking her to the floor in a loud manner. As she walked by my I checked to see where the other two Asari were, who were being tracked by the suit and SECOND, saw that they were not in visual range of me, walked up behind asari No. 3 grabbed her by the neck, twisted it around 180o snapping her neck and preventing her from making any noise.

I searched her body, finding a datapad on her as well as a credit chit, before picking up her body and put it up on top of one of the rows of servers, where no one would find her for a while. Before turning and heading towards Asari #1. When I reached her I came at her from the front, punched her in the throat to collapse her airways preventing her from breathing or crying out, before grabbing her head and also twisting it until her neck snapped. I also searched her and put her body up on a server before heading towards the last Asari working on the terminal. Just as I reached her she looked up and called out "Hey! I think I found something, check it out!"

"They can't hear you" I said uncloaking infront of her, punching her in the throat once more, before kicking her knee snapping it and causing her to go white from the pain before snapping her neck. As with the other two asari I searched her before hiding her up on a database before turning towards the console. "SECOND, can you find where they were sending the weapons?" I asked.

"_**Scanning. . . Destination located... Weapons being shipped to base at north pole of Ilium."**_

_Interesting, a base on the ground of ilium. Thats why the north pole._ I turned and headed out of the server room and exfiltrated the police base, before making my way towards my shuttle to bring my to the Polar base.

_Later that night, out side the polar base of the Crime Lord Desana_

"Paranoid much?" I muttered to myself looking at the guards patrolling the base through my visor. SECOND did a quick headcount an came up with 52 guards around the main entrance. "Well thats just great. No way am I getting in through there, SECOND is there any other entrance to that base?" I asked.

"_**Checking Blueprints. . . Two additional entry points located... Entry point one is a vent leading to life support... Entry point two is a emergency hatch on the roof, leading to a catwalk in a warehouse."**_ SECOND said, marking two locations on my Visors map.

"That vent would never hold under the weight of the Suit and me." I muttered.

"_**Vent is very sturdy, in the original blueprints It was to be used as a conveyor belt for heavy cargo"**_ SECOND informed me.

"Well it would still be way too noisy. I am going through the roof." I said.

"_**Affirmative. Find and kill Desana, Enter Emergency hatch on the roof. Waypoints updated."**_

"Thats nice" I said getting up and following the route that SECOND gave me as far away from the guards as possible. I reached the wall of the building and after making sure that no one was able to see me, jumped up onto the roof. Once on the roof I made my way to the emergency hatch where SECOND hacked into the security system so that when I opened the hatch an alarm would not sound.

"_**Security system disabled. Enter quickly to minimize chances of detection."**_

I opened the hatch and dropped down onto a catwalk in a warehouse. "Alright SECOND, whereto now?" I asked quietly.

"_**Unable to determine location of Desana's quarters... Marking possible locations on map... Way-points updated." **_

I crept along the catwalk, cloaked and making sure to make as little noise as possible. I reached a door and opened it before moving through the room to the exit. I was sneaking past a room when I heard two mercs talking and decided to stop and see If I could hear some useful information.

"Man I tell you, Desana needs to be careful. She is expanding too fast. Its bound to attract some kind of attention. Attention Desana can't use now." A woman said, my guess is that it was an Asari.

"Its fine. Desana is very careful. No one could possibly notice without having a mole in our organization and Desana is careful about that as well." I heard the flanged voice of a Turian say.

"I'm not so worried about that, but you know how I work in security room 3?" I looked up knowing that if I could find the security room I could find Desana a lot faster. "Well my assignments up till now have been to communicate with our weapons team in the police district, and well they seemed to have gone dark. While its normal for them to go dark from time to time, today was their last day there and I'm kinda uneasy." The Asari said as I entered the room cloaked.

"What, you think the police found them?" The Turian said.

"No, the police couldn't find us if they were standing in front of the base. I'm more worried about the reports of a Phantom on Ilium." I stiffened "A Phantom would be trouble that we can't deal with."

"Do you have so little faith in our security?" The Turian asked as I crept up behind him.

"Have you heard the stories about the Phantoms? They say that a single phantom could infiltrate a military base and walk out unscathed." The asari said.

"Bah, stories and legends. Do you seriously believe those?"

"You forget that all stories and legends have basis in fact." I said uncloaking and grabbing the Turian by the neck and aiming my pistol at the asari.

"Don't kill me!" The asari said her eyes widening in fear as she saw me materialize behind the Turian.

"Where's that security room?" I asked keeping my pistol aimed at her.

"What I. . ."

"Tell me. Now!" I said.

The Asari's eyes flicking down at the Turian and back was the only warning I had before the Turian went limp in my arms trying to pull me off balance, before trying to spin around and hit me, while the asari flared blue, activating her biotics. But before she could do anything I punched the Turian sending him flying into the asari, knocking her over before slamming headfirst into the wall. I jumped over to where the asari was lying and grabbed her by the neck.

"That was a bad move. I would suggest you don't try that again. I could crush your neck before you can even say 'biotics'." I said dispassionately.

"Alright! Alright! Ill tell you where the security room is just don't kill me!" She begged me, gasping for breath.

"Talk"

"Through the door over there and fifth door on the right!" She gasped.

"Good was that so hard? Now I am afraid that you will have to go to sleep for a while, so sorry about this" I said knocking her unconscious before turning toward the door she pointed out to me and walked through it.

"_**Cloak engaged"**_

I entered the security room and saw a single salarian working on a computer terminal. I snuck up behind him and slit his throat. He slumped down with a surprised gurgle while I hacked into the security network.

"_**Hack complete. Downloading base layout. . . Download complete. . . Analyzing. . . Target located. . . Way points updated."**_

I smirked behind my mask, _I'm coming for you Desana._ I turned and continued along the path SECOND gave me. I ran across two mercenaries along the way but I easily disposed of them with a slash to the neck. I soon found myself right outside of the door leading to Desana's private chambers. Deciding to forgo the stealth route I planted a small shaped breaching charge on the door and stood back against the opposite wall and detonated the charge. The blast disintegrated the door and I charged in the opening with my assault rifle. I immediately noticed two things. The room was empty and there were two EMP devices pointing right at me. _SHIT_.

I heard the EMP's charge and a second later I heard the blast.

"_**Warning. EMP assault Systems impaired."**_ Came SECOND's anayisis. With the suit going haywire I was forced down to the ground to wait for the effects to wear off.

"There we go! We got ourselves a Phantom!" Came a voice over a loudspeaker. _Desana._ "Alright get in there and kill him. Headshots only please. I want that Suit"

"_**Initializing EMP failsafe. . . Energy absorption sphere engaging. . . charge 10% complete."**_

I smiled slightly under my mask. _Oh you are going down._ I thought as ten mercs entered the room and started walking towards me.

"_**Energy Absorption sphere charge 50% complete."**_

"Ha! We got you now Tin Man!" one of the mercs said gloatingly.

I laughed slowly at that "Oh I don't know about that buddy. Do you know what would happen if all the energy around here would instantly dissappear? It would get colder. A lot colder. Infact it would get so cold that you would all snap freeze!" I said a smirk evident in my voice.

"_**Energy absorption sphere 100% complete. Activating."**_

"What? Your caught now tin-" The merc was unable to finish his sentence as at that moment there was a rushing noise and instantly the temperature dropped 150 degrees as all the energy within a 5 meter radius of me was sucked into my suit, causing all the mercs to freeze and frost to accumulate on the walls, floor and ceiling.

"_**Suit power back online. Suit overcharged. Target detected. Eliminate."**_

"Now THATS what I'm talking about!" I shouted and charged forward, activating Armor mode. I charged through the door on the other side of the room and encountered 5 mercs who I gunned down, their bullets pinging off of my suit as it used all the energy captured by the EAS I charged forward when I saw Desana trying to run away from me. "Oh no you don't Desana. You are going down!" I jumped forward and landed right behind desana. I kicked her with quite a bit of power causing her to fly forward and slam headfirst into the wall. A snapping sound indicated that her neck broke. After that many of the mercs lost their will to fight me and it was a simple matter of escaping the base.

"And that is how SECOND saved my life there. If he hadn't activated the EAS well then I would be dead." I said wrapping up my story.

"Damn. That energy absorption sphere seems to be pretty powerful." Shepard said impressed.

"Yeah, it will suck all the energy out of the area and transfer it into the suit. However this can cause damage to the suit and if you aren't careful it can leave you more vulnerable than the EMP." I said grinning slightly.

"That would be another piece of Ceph technology then?" Shepard asked me.

"Yeah. Like I said before the Ceph were also very advanced in energy technology and they seemed to be able to gain energy from all sorts of sources. Much like the Nanosuit does only on a much larger scale. Something that the Nanosuit can only emulate on a small scale, and the EAS is pretty much the closest it can come to what some of the Ceph technology was like." I said.

"Wow. It makes you wonder what happened to them if they were that powerful." Shepard said wonderingly.

"Yeah it does. Its something we are always trying to figure out, and have yet to do." I said.

At that moment Joker's voice came through the loudspeaker "Hey Commander, we are coming up on the Citadel. You want to be up here to greet the politicians that will surely be waiting for us?"

Shepard groaned "Well I guess I better get up to the bridge. We'll talk later Wraith."

"See ya Shep." I responded turning to my computer. I noticed a message from Derek and opened it.

_Wraith,_

_I have a package for you. Pick it up on the wards. I think you will enjoy it. _

_Derek_

_P.S. Its heavy.  
>_<em>

_Well it looks like I'm getting a present,_ I thought putting my mask on and heading out the door.

* * *

><p><em>Alright this chapter is just a filler unfortunately and I was unsure if I should post this now or write the citadel part as well. I decided to bring it out now because If I would have continued to write the citadel part it would take quite a bit longer for this chap to come out. <em>

Listening to: Insertion, Epilogue, Times Square Evacuation (Crysis 2 Soundtrack), Dragonborn (Skyrim Soundtrack), Korriban the homeworld, Dromund Kaas The Seat of Power, Balmorra the forge, The Mandalorian Blockade, The occupation of Balmorra (SW: Tor Soundtrack)


	7. Chapter 7: Pinnacle of Combat

_AN: Well here is another chapter. I would like to say that the OC that gets mentioned near the end is NOT mine. He belongs to DN7 and I have permission to use him in NE. I also do NOT own Crysis or Mass effect. Those would belong to EA, Bioware and CryTek. _

_**SECOND: Analysis complete. LEGION is finished talking. Enjoy.**_

* * *

><p>After meeting Shepard Garrus and Kaiden in the airlock and telling her that I would be picking up a package we all left the Normandy. At the end of the docking arm we saw a man in Alliance uniform waiting for us. As we approached him he saluted and introduced himself.<p>

"Rear Admiral Mikhailovich, Fifth fleet."

"Admiral. Do you need something? I am on urgent business here on the Citadel." Shepard responded causing me to smirk and lean against the wall ready to watch the fireworks.

The admiral narrowed his eyes at her before responding "Let's get one thing clear, Shepard. You might be a Spectre to the aliens, but to me, you're just another junior officer. Be respectful."

"Of course, _Sir." _Shepard responded mockingly.

The Admiral narrowed his eyes even more but ignored Shepard's comment and continued "I command the 63rd scout flotilla. You and the Normandy were slated for my unit after shakedown. Then the Council got their paws, claws, tentacles, whathaveyou on our ship. And you."

I curled my lip at him and said "I believe the word your looking for is hands Mikhailovich."

He glared at me before turning back to Shepard "I don't begrudge the politicians decision to throw you to the Council. I do begrudge this over-designed piece of tin though."

Shepard smirked glancing at me before saying "I think you got your names wrong admiral. He is a over-designed piece of tin." She said nodding at me "The Normandy however is an amazing ship."

"It's true you know." I said, "This suit, with its production and upkeep, probably cost more than the Normandy."

"An exaggeration no doubt." The admiral said brushing that statement off. "This experiment diverted billions from our appropriations bills. For the same price we could have had a heavy cruiser."

"And lose it in a single engagement" I muttered.

"But noo," he said continuing on "We had to make nice to the Turians. Throw money at a co-developed boondoggle. I am here to make an inspection commander. The Normandy is an Alliance warship. I intend to see she is up to snuff."

I narrowed my eyes at that but smirked at Shepard's next words "Normandy might be an Alliance warship, but she is on loan to the citadel. And that means that she is _not_ in your chain of command."

Mikhailovich actually looked shocked at her words "I believe there's something wrong with my ears. Did you just contradict me?"

"No sir, just pointing out a peculiar legal situation. I believe you understand admiral. You are welcome to look around, but only as a guest, not a formal inspection." Shepard responded.

"You've got a smart mouth, commander." the admiral said glaring at Shepard "Fine, this visit will be off the record; a courtesy tour."

I stayed back with Shepard as the admiral started his inspection. "Over-designed piece of tin Shepard?" I asked jokingly.

"What?" She responded innocently and shrugging her shoulders "You said it yourself. Your suit cost more than the Normandy. How much does it really cost?" she asked.

"Alright so I might have exaggerated slightly." I fessed up, "This single suit didn't cost more than the Normandy. The entire project however definitely cost more than five Normandy's put together."

"Damn. How much does a single suit cost?" Garrus asked me.

"Oh a good couple billion credits." I responded.

"Spirits... That's quite a bit." Garrus said.

"You know Wraith, you don't have to wait here. You can go ahead and pick up your package. It's not like I'm going to leave you here." Shepard said looking at me.

"Oh no, Shepard. I am not missing this for anything." I said.

A good half an hour later, the admiral walked back out of the Normandy and said. "Commander, I am _**not**_ happy."

"Sounds like a recurring problem." I muttered causing him to glare at me.

"What seems to be the problem Admiral?" Shepard asked stifling a laugh.

"Who designed that CIC? Putting the commander aft of everyone else is inefficient. What if he, or she," he hastily added, "needs to discuss with the operators toward the bow?"

"Ever heard of personal communicators?" I grumbled.

"It's a Turian design. Besides, there are no amateurs on this crew. They know to keep idle chatter to a minimum during combat. We also have an intercom, and I can bellow with the best drill instructors." Shepard said with a small smirk on her lips.

"A fair point. I suppose the design will not become standard. So no need to worry about a generation of recruits learning things back-asswards." he said, nodding slightly. "I had to shake my head at that drive core of yours. 120 billion credits worth of element zero to make this hunk of metal able to move without giving itself away."

"Compare that to the 150 billion required for the CSV's nervous interface systems." I added under my breath.

"You realize we could make drive cores for 12,000 fighters with that money? What good is it to hide for a few hours, anyway? Useless!"

"Of course they would be destroyed rather quickly as well."

"Men of limited vision said the same thing about early aircraft, submarines and tanks." Shepard responded.

There was an awkward pause as Mikhailovich processed the statement, and internally I was laughing my ass off.

"There are two ways I could take that commander, however it is true. I suppose the early U-boats weren't much better."

"Actually they were quite a thorn in the side of the Allies." I corrected.

"And we need to talk about your crew, commander." he said.

"Oh?" Shepard asked coldly.

"Krogan? Asari? Turians? That corporate mercenary? What are you thinking commander? You can't allow alien nationals and a mercenary free access to alliance equipment!" Mikhailovich said heatedly.

"You might want to watch who you call a corporate mercenary admiral." Shepard said coldly "He could throw you off this docking bay with one hand. Agent Wraith is representing and on loan from CryNet as they helped to design a vast majority the Normandy's systems. Besides as the Normandy's commanding officer I have the authority to say who does and does not come aboard. If you disagree with my choice of crew, you can voice your concerns with the Admiralty Board and Ambassador Udina who put me in command of the Normandy."

"Sophistry commander, You know I'm right. You want them on board that bad, fine. Don't quote regs at me." Mikhailovich said annoyed.

"It seems like you need them quoted at you since you obviously don't know them yourself" I quipped a little louder than I should have.

Mikhailovich ignored me once more, the only thing that showed that he heard me was his jaw clenching. "Do you have anything else to say, commander? Any other justifications for the state of this vessel?"

"We showed the Council something new with our fighter carriers. You may disapprove of the Normandy, but she's just another way we're out thinking them. Then the fact that we were willing to co-design the Normandy with the Turians shows that we are willing to forgive them for the First Contact War. This will give us a stronger position in the future, one that will be beneficial for everyone." Shepard responded.

"That assumes Normandy's technologies can become practical in the future and that the Council will take it as such." Mikhailovich responded "I'm not convinced Normandy isn't a waste of taxpayer money, but I am convinced you believe otherwise and that you will use it to its best ability."

"I'll be submitting a report to the Joint Military Council. It will not be as negative as I had planned." Mikhailovich continued "Good hunting Commander Shepard. Make us proud." He saluted and stepped into the elevator, forcing us to have to wait for it to come back up.

"Well that was fun. I love pissing off people with trees up their asses." I said "It's so easy."

"Hah, although I'm not sure its a good idea to piss off an Alliance admiral." Garrus said.

"Its not like they can do anything. They can't demote me and they can't risk pissing CryNet off. The worst they could do would be to send a complaint to the CryNet Director." I responded. "Well now that we are done here let's get on with this visit, eh?" I asked walking into the elevator.

The ride down was quiet until Garrus said that he would love to see what the Normandy would do in a fight, whereas Wrex responded saying that only an idiot would hope for combat while flying in a stealth ship. I exchanged unseen smirks with Shepard when Wrex said that. Garrus continued saying that the stealth drive would add an entire new tactical level to space combat. Their discussion continued until we reached the bottom where we saw one Khalisah Al-Jilani waiting for us, or most likely Shepard.

"Oh boy, its my favorite reporter." I said sarcastically.

"Here to interview the first human Spectre no doubt. And try to show me in a bad light." Shepard groaned.

"Well I'm sure you will be fine. I should leave as my presence would just be a hinderence no doubt. Besides, you don't want me stealing your fame do you?" I asked.

"Bah, you just don't want to deal with her." Shepard said, crossing her arms.

"Well that too. See ya later Commander." I replied as the elevator door opened and I stepped out and walked past the reporter giving her a look as I went past but otherwise ignoring her.

After hailing a cab I found my way to Kithoi Ward, where the Citadel branch of CryNet was situated. I entered the building and made my way to the special access elevator which would bring me to the Armory and Storage facility. After having SECOND identify me to the buildings security systems I entered the elevator and after a very short ride found myself in the armory. _Why no one else can make fast elevators is beyond me._ I thought thinking back on past elevator rides on the Citadel.

"Operative Wraith?" A CryNet employee asked me. "You came here for the packages?"

"I was only informed of one package." I answered, confused at the plural.

"Well sir, you have two packages for you." He said, looking at his computer terminal "One Nanosuit 2 cradle and computer, ready for installation. The other a package of seven Guardian Heavy Offensive Strategic Trooper Armor sets. Two female Human, one male Human, one Asari, One male Turian, One female Quarian and One male Krogan."

_Oh wow. Damn Derek. I didn't even need to get you the measurements and you work fast._ I thought amused. "Yes those are for me." I said.

"Very well, please follow me sir. I will lead to your packages. Do you need help transporting them?" He asked me as we walked past some dark blue armored Inquisitors in the armory.

After picking up the two rather large crates, I brought them to the Normandy with help of a squad of Inquisitors who volunteered to help me transport the packages. _I suppose not much going on here for them. They would get bored rather quickly._ With everything loaded on the Normandy, I bid goodbye to the Inquisitors who left to return to their HQ. I placed the individual boxes of Ghost armor in the Cargo bay and headed up to my office to start installing the Cradle in my office.

The processes wasn't difficult but rather tedious as there were numerous wires and connections that needed to be taken out from the floor panel and soldered back together to connect the Cradle to the Normandy's power grid. I turned on the display panel and using my high priority extranet access, turned it on to the Citadel's primary news station.

About halfway through the installation, I saw the interview of Shepard. I was very impressed at how she handled herself despite Jilani's attempts at backing her into a corner. Just when I finished setting up the cradle I received a call that was linked through CryNet Channels by one Lieutenant Girard.

"Ah, excuse me? This is Lieutenant Girard. I was told that you are a Phantom in the area of the Alliance docking bay." He said in what sounded like a German accent.

"That is correct." I responded. "Do you require Phantom assistance?" I asked.

"Well you could say that. We have a slight situation here. There is a woman who was rescued from Batarian slavers a few weeks ago. We have someone coming who can hopefully talk her down, however we might need someone to give her sedatives if she doesn't calm down and tries to kill herself." Girard explained.

"So you want me there cloaked, with sedatives ready." I said.

"That is correct, sir."

"No problem. Ill be right there." I said getting up and walking swiftly towards the airlock. The airlock opened to show two men standing outside. As I walked out onto the platform they turned towards me and one of them spoke up.

"Ah, its good of you to come. We are just waiting on Commander Shepard." Girard said.

I nodded once showing that I understood. _Of course they would use Shepard. _I thought _this woman is probably from the same raid._ Shepard herself soon stepped out of the elevator with Garrus and Wrex following her and after acknowledging each other and getting briefed on the situation I cloaked and got into position behind a pile of crates to where the woman was hiding. With the sedatives prepped in a hypodermic needle, I would be able to jump over the crates and sedate the former captive in a matter of moments.

Once I gave her the go signal, Shepard came soon after and started to talk to the woman. She found out that her name was Talitha. Eventually Shepard was able to get Talitha to take the sedatives herself, but not before we all had tears shining in our eyes. It seemed that even SECOND was affected somehow, as it only gave out a quiet _**"Primary objectives complete"**_, as I uncloaked and picked Talitha up. After carrying her back to the Lieutenant, he offered his gratitude. As the Lieutenant left carrying Talitha we exchanged glanced and headed into the Normandy.

"Fucking Batarians." was the only thing I said before heading towards my office. I threw myself down in my chair and covered my visor with my hand. I was pissed. Beyond pissed. Deciding that I needed to take my mind off of what happened on the dock I turned on my terminal and loaded up Command and Conquer 3: Kanes Wrath Remastered.

Gaming was something that I picked up a long time ago. Right around the middle of the 21st century gaming sort of died out, but now with a much bigger market to cater too, classic games were recovered and redone. I picked up the habit because it would allow me to take a break from life and just have some fun. I remember playing games when I was young, before my parents died. Then I stopped until sometime after Mindior, where I restarted playing when Niel told me to find something to allow me to have some fun with something that didn't have anything to do with work after I almost had an emotional breakdown one day.

Half an hour later, I had calmed down completely and was rather focused in microing my army during a rather heated battle when the door opened and Shepard walked in. Pausing the game I turned and looked at Shepard who only raised her eyebrow at me before saying "I never figured you to be the kind of person to play video games, Wraith."

"Hey! Everyone's gotta have someway of calming down and just having fun, and this is one of mine." I defended myself.

Shepard smirked slightly before noticing the new cradle "I see you got a new toy, and here I thought the crates down in the Cargo bay was everything you picked up."

"Gah! The crates!" I exclaimed hitting myself on the head "I forgot about that in the aftermath of what happened on the dock."

"Yes, well I understand that." She said "I was pretty pissed off myself, so while you were up here playing games, I was down in the cargo hold sparring with Ashley. So what's in those crates of yours?"

"Yes, the crates, of course." I said jumping up. "Why don't you get the team down there. This is something for all of them to see."

"Oh, come now. Surely you can tell me please?" Shepard asked playfully giving me a puppy dog look allowing me to see her beautiful green eyes very clearly _Wait, where did that come from?_ I asked myself confused.

"Now Shep. I'm sure that you can wait for a bit longer. I want it to be a surprise." I said quickly covering up my momentary confusion.

"Bah, your no fun." Shepard said pouting.

"Come on Jane." I said using her first name for the first time "That pout does not fit you. Besides the longer we talk, the longer its going to take us to open those crates!"

Shepard stopped pouting immediately grabbed my arm and pulled me through the door with strength that surprised me, of course I wasn't using the Nanosuit's strength to resist her. "Out. Now!" She ordered "Get down to the Cargo bay ASAP."

"Aye Aye Commander." I said saluting.

Shepard glared at me with her eyes narrowed before pointing towards the elevator. Chuckling I walked into the elevator and hit the down button. Halfway through the ride Shepard's voice came over the intercom telling the ground team to meet in the Cargo bay. Reaching the bottom headed over to where I left the crates and leaned against them.

Noticing my actions Garrus walked over "I suppose that announcement was to see whats in these crates?" He asked me.

"Indeed it is." I said nodding.

"So what's in them." Ashley asked coming up to join us.

"If I didn't tell Shepard, there is no way I'm going to be telling anyone else now is there?" I asked humorously.

We were soon joined by Tali who was also rather interested in what the surprise was and not long after that, the elevator door slid open and Shepard, Liara and Kaiden stepped out.

"Good we are all here." Shepard said "Come on Wrex! Wraith is finally going to show us what's in the crates."

"Am I?" I questioned tilting my head to the side "What if I was just standing here to relax?" I asked.

The glare Shepard sent me quickly made me change my mind "Well, fine. If you really want to see them." I said hastily. "Now then. Lets see. If you would stand in front of the cases I tell you to. Shepard," I said gesturing towards the case in the middle, the information popping up on my visor "Kaiden" the one on the right of Shepard's "Ashley" the one to the right of Kaiden's, "Wrex" the one on the far right. "Garrus" on Shepard's immediate left "Liara" left of Garrulous "Tali" the one on the far left. I turned to look at Shepard who was standing impatiently in front of her case, before chuckling and having SECOND open the case's remotely.

With a hiss the front of each case slowly disassembled revealing seven different sets of armor. The armor, while differing for each member followed the same design principle. Covered in metal armor plating, the color of which was different for every set, covered nearly every single section of the body, the GHOST armor itself was intimidating standing in their crates. The sections of the armors body that wasn't covered in plating showed a material very similar to that on the nanosuit. Further more the armor plating had several glowing sections and other details for aesthetics. Ghost armor. "Seven sets of Guardian Heavy Offensive Strategic Trooper armor. One for each of you."

_AN: If you are interested in how the armor looks mores specifically then check out the Armor from Section 8 (and prejudice) A picture can be found at this link here(remove the spaces): _htt p:/section8. Wikia. Com/ wiki/USIF_Powered_Assault_Armor

Everyone gasped in shock, even Wrex grunted in surprise. "Don't let appearance's fool you guys, the GHOST armor is more advanced than whats available to the general populace, but is not as advanced as the Nanosuit. To make up for this, the GHOST armor is made up of more protective layers. The first is a soft bio-layer that helps cushion against impacts, think of it as an under armor layer. The next is a synthetic muscle system based on the Cry-fibril from the nanosuit. This enhances the wearers natural abilities in strength, speed, and endurance while also providing a secondary layer of armor. The third layer is the primary defense. The armor plates that you see covering almost the entire suit are made of coltan-titanium, and are able to withstand nearly all conventional projectiles. Just don't try to take a missile head on. Finally, the fourth layer is a kinetic barrier that is several degrees better than what your armors currently have.

To power the armor, a prototype micro-fusion array combined with the nanosuits capacitor technology allows for not only increased strength, speed, and barrier strengthen but also for Overdrive and nanite repair protocols. Overdrive allows the GHOST armor's tactical VI to take control of the suit to run in speeds in excess of sixty miles an hour. The nanite repair protocols allows for a small swarm of nanites to be released to repair the armor plating and synthetic muscle, but that's all they are programmed to do."

Continuing with my speech, I elaborated on the Tactical VI. "GHOST armor incorporates an advanced Tactical VI that not only controls the Overdrive function, but can also link with other GHOST armor VI's and Nanosuit AI's allowing for increased teamwork on the battlefield, allowing each member to see another teammates health, armor and shield status, what weapon they are using, where they are, and what enemy they are engaging.

And lastly, since each set of GHOST armor is highly customizable allowing it to be built to the wearer's strengths. For instance, a sniper would have increased stabilizers and recoil dampeners, which combined with the Tactical VI, allow you to make those nearly impossible shots. If however you happen to be a biotic, the GHOST armor will be designed with a high end Biotic amp. Giving you more biotic power. For those who work in the front lines the plating and shielding can be upgraded, allowing you to take more punishment. For the tech savvies, GHOST armor will accommodate you as well, coming with an advanced omni-tool linked directly to the tactical VI increasing your abilities as well.

So all in all I think that GHOST armor will suit just about everyone with its unprecedented customizability, from looks and paint job to armor modules." I said finishing up my long winded explanation of all the features. I then noticed that Shepard was running her hands over her armor which was mainly black with some red highlights armor and the N7 insignia displayed proudly on the chest, with a dreamy expression on her face. "Well, what do you think? Do you like them? Or should I return them?" I asked jokingly.

"NO!" Shepard shouted immediately. "I love it! But... They must have been really expensive..." She trailed off biting her lip looking at me slightly unsure.

"Pfft. Don't worry about it. CryNet has money. Money it is willing to spend, unlike some others." I said. "Not too mention as head of Raven squad I have an expense account that I can use for whatever I deem necessary. Making sure you guys don't die while we take the fight to Saren is _very_ necessary."

"I have to say. I am very impressed Wraith." Kaiden said still examining his Steel blue armor.

"Yeah, I can't wait to kick some serious ass." Ashley said looking up from her Steel blue with white highlighted Armor.

"It's no problem. Anything to bring the corrupt down eh?" I said.

"Wraith? This armor is perfectly safe for a Quarian right?" Tali asked me.

"Of course. The Quarian armor has full body seal that can only be opened via direct command to the suits VI. I know it might be difficult for you to have the VI in there, but don't worry. It is perfectly safe." I assured her causing her to nod gratefully and turn back to her purple with black armor.

"You mentioned that if you are a sniper the armor has built in stabilizers and motion dampeners right?" Garrus asked me from his navy blue with some black armor.

"That is correct. And your armor is customized to be perfect for a sniper, yet still amplify your tech powers." I responded.

"And can I have it play music?" Garrus asked me.

"Music? Well yes I suppose you can customize it to be able to play music. You should check the manual that comes with the armor to learn how to customize and use it properly." I responded. I turned to Liara who was looking over her black and light blue armor with great interest. "Liara, your armor should boost your biotics by quite a bit and still allow for full range of motion, which should be rather useful."

She nodded at me but didn't answer.

"Gotta say Wraith, this is some nice armor" Wrex grunted from his dark red and black armor. "Hah! As if Krogan weren't intimidating enough"

"Indeed Wrex. That is very true. Anybody seeing you come in that armor is going to be wanting to run the other way." I said chuckling slightly.

"Wait. I just realized." Shepard said a smirk forming on her face "I recently got an invitation to Pinnacle station, and now we have the perfect opportunity to test out our new armor."

"Well I'm not going to argue with that. Of course phantoms usually don't go there, because its just too easy for us, but its a good idea for you guys to get some hands on practice." I said.

"Really? Phantoms don't go there?" Garrus asked "I would think that they would want to practice in a safe environment."

"Oh we do, just not there. We have our own training and practice facilities. I think the last time a Phantom squad went there, CryNet had to foot the bill for a new holographic environment generator." I responded.

"Just a sec. Wraith, let me tell Joker to get us there." Shepard interjected "Joker, set a course to Pinnacle station."

"_Aye Aye commander." _The pilots voice came over the PA.

"Now you were saying Wraith?"

"Well yeah, I mean we have some special facilities that do pretty much the same, however we also have special equipment that allows us to actually compete against each other with near life like conditions. Phantom teams against Phantom teams or Inquisitor teams vs Inquisitor teams or even a single Phantom against Inquisitor teams. It allows us to keep our skills sharp and have some friendly tournaments as well." I said.

"You actually compete against each other?" Kaiden asked.

"Oh yes. It's much more challenging to fight against a human or other species, than it is to fight against a hologram." I replied matter of factly. "Sentient beings are able to come up with solutions that a VI or AI wouldn't think of, we are more random in our actions."

"Damn, could we check that out sometime?" Shepard asked.

"I'm sure there wouldn't be any problem with that." I responded thinking "I would just have to get a date set up for when we could head over there and maybe see a show. But that could take a while."

"Well I would love to see how you guys train. It would be an awesome learning experience" Shepard said.

"Yes, well it shouldn't take too long for us to reach the station, so you might want to get suited up. GHOST armor takes a bit longer than normal armor." I advised.

"I guess with every good thing there is a downside." Garrus joked.

"Indeed there is." I said "Well instructions came with the armor so you should be able to put them on your omni tools to see how to get in the armor. I will be in my office. I have to thank the guys who got us the armor so quickly."

"Very well, but I better not catch you playing games when I come in there!" Shepard called out to my retreating back. I merely chuckled as I walked into the elevator. As the doors closed and I began my slow ascent I thought back to what happened in my office before with Shepard. As I was pondering my reaction to her I noticed that the elevator had reached the top. Shaking my head I walked out and headed to my office where I immediately called up Derek and thanked him for the armor.

After finishing the call I went and decided to create an event at CryNet's Training and Practice station. It would consist of four tournaments. Two would be for the Phantoms while the other two would be for the Inquisitors. Each would have a team based tournament and a single's one. Also there would be multiple skirmishes between Phantoms and Inquisitors, with either smaller groups up against each other or Phantom vs Inquisitor battles, where Inquisitors would be pitted against Phantoms in such a way that the Inquisitors still had a chance. Usually the Inquisitors had a number and location advantage. I had finished setting up the event and was reminiscing about past tournaments and skirmishes I had taken part in when the door opened and was followed by some rather heavy footsteps.

"You know... This armor is really epic." Came Shepard's voice through her new armor's external speakers. Turning in my chair I saw Shepard fully encased in her Ghost armor her helmet having four diagonal slits for optics, two on each side all of them meeting in front of her mouth. There was a single light within each slit giving her the appearance of having four eyes. "Well? What do you think?" Shepard asked me as the front of the helmet disassembled revealing her face behind a tinted visor.

"Very intimidating" I responded smirking. "I see you were able to get that armor on by yourself."

"It was no problem, not like there were any zippers going up my back that needed doing." Shepard said waving an armored hand dismissively. "We are approaching Pinnacle station, so you might want to get ready."

"You got it Shep." I said standing up. "You ready to kick some holographic ass?"

"Do you need to ask?"

Not long after Joker brought us in to dock with the station and we boarded. Upon entering I overheard two Turians talking, one of which seemed to be a racist. As we walked past him I gave him a glare that I had long since perfected within the Nanosuit. We met the Alliance admiral in charge of the station, Admiral Tadius Ahern, as he greeted us and got Shepard up to speed on the station. He seemed rather impressed with their new GHOST armor and soon sent us through to the Salarian in charge of the simulator to get us started in a mission. Everyone else stayed behind to watch Shepard, Garrus and Wrex in the simulator.

* * *

><p><em>AN: POV change to Shepard. Also for the Tactical VI voice for the Ghost armor think of the voice of the Nanosuit in Crysis 1.<em>

* * *

><p>Deciding to start out with an elimination mission to start things off, Shepard walked into the simulator, Garrus and Wrex following her while Wraith stayed behind. Entering the simulator Shepard looked around before linking her tactical VI with Garrus and Wrex.<p>

"_**Tactical VI online. Linking with squad. . . Squad link complete. Displaying tactical data now"**_

Came the VI's voice and immediately the shield and armor levels of the entire squad popped up on the bottom left side of her visor as well as what weapon they were currently using. On the bottom right came a small map detailing the immediate area around her, including the positions of Garrus and Wrex. A small targeting dot popped up as well that moved as she moved her new HMWSG basic shotgun that she picked up on the citadel. Walking over to the terminal she started up the mission. Almost instantly the squad came under fire, rounds were impacting on their shields causing them to flare up.

"_**Hostiles detected. Threats identified. Marking."**_

Shepard spun and charged towards the nearest pirate, a human, the nanoweave within the ghost armor causing her to reach the pirate in record time, aiming her shotgun she blasted the human causing him to disappear in a flash of orange light. A crack sounded and another pirate fell to the accurate fire from Garrus's sniper rifle. Shepard continued running towards more pirates, with Wrex following right behind her taking them out with accurate blasts from their shotguns. Spotting a clump of pirates running towards her she took out a virtual grenade and threw it in the middle of the group. The grenade detonated causing the entire group to disappear.

Shepard glanced at another pirate noticing that it was outlined in red and informing her that Garrus was currently taking aim at him and soon enough the pirate burst into a flash of light. After clearing out half of the area Shepard turned towards the other side noticing that there was a bunch of pirates coming after them along with a Krogan. Glancing around Shepard noticed some chest high crates "Garrus behind those crates!" She called and the VI even marked the crates for Garrus. "Wrex! Let's go charge these guys!" She called getting an affirmative grunt in response.

Shepard and Wrex began sprinting towards the hostiles as cracks began sounding as Garrus took out hostiles quickly and accurately. About halfway there there was a slight hum emanating from the suit and soon enough the armor automatically had Shepard put her shotgun in its holster and charged forward as the suits overdrive activated causing her to hurtle across the battlefield at astounding speeds. Shepard smashed into a pirate causing him to disappear before jumping forward in a roll grabbing her shotgun in the process and blasting another pirate. When she shot two more pirates there was an alert informing her that her shields were down. It was then that the Krogan charged her, holographic bullets pinging off of her armor Shepard fired her shotgun at the charging Krogan. Unfortunately after the second shot her shotgun overheated causing her to drop the weapon and pull out her assault rifle.

However the Krogan crashed into her before she could. The impact however was dampened quite a bit and instead of crashing to the floor like she normally would have she just staggered a bit before punching the Krogan with quite a bit of strength, causing it to stagger back Shepard then opened fire with her assault rifle causing the Krogan to disappear. Picking up her shotgun Shepard looked around to see Wrex finishing of the last of the pirates.

"Good work Shepard." Came Admiral Ahern's voice signaling the end of the simulation.

"Alright guys. Lets get back up there and see how we did." Shepard said still full of adrenaline.

* * *

><p><em>AN: POV change back to Wraith.<em>

* * *

><p>I had to admit I was impressed. Shepard took out quite a few hostiles in the time limit. It was even more impressive since she was getting used to her new armor which would be quite a bit different than her old armor. I knew that she was heading back to see her score and decided to greet her. As I was approaching the exit I overheard that racist Turian and a Human in a heated argument.<p>

"Bryant, if you tampered with government property I'll throw you in the stockade!" the Turian said.

"Would you shut up?" I asked annoyed "I would rather not have to listen to your bitching."

"Get lost Phantom. This doesn't concern you" he responded.

"If your disturbing me it damn well does concern me." I said drawing myself to my full nanosuit augmented height.

"Vidinos is just mad because a human beat his record." The Salarian tech officer Ochren said.

"Is that so?" I asked coolly glaring at Vidinos.

"Shut your mouth Holo jockey." Vidinos said glaring at Ochren "Bryant supposedly scored highest in multiple combat modes. No human's done that before. He obviously cheated."

"Is that so? Well It seems that you haven't met any real humans then. You might want to be careful." I said.

"Hah. Humans are all weak. Why I could even beat you with your tin suit there." Vidinos said.

"Oh really? Well I might have to take that bet. However I don't want to make it too easy for me so lets put it this way. If I double your score in a hunt mission then you will take Bryant's place in the stockade." I said coolly.

"Good luck with that. You won't even come close to my score. I accept." Vidinos said.

"Good, you might want to get some reading material so that you have something to do. Maybe something on better combat tactics." I said turning towards the Tech Officer.

"Well that was interesting. So what will you start out with?" Ochren asked "Hunt, elimination, survival, capture, recovery, assassination, infiltration or escort."

I decided to start the hunt mission on in the volcanic environment.

I entered the arena after checking all my equipment and waited for the mission to start. The arena looked a lot like Therum did when we picked up Liara, but then I guess that volcanic planets all look the same. I saw two buildings standing next to each other and an elevated walkway on their opposite side.

The moment the countdown reached zero started I sprang into action drawing my assault rifle and charging straight towards a group of Geth taking out three of them before even reaching them before dropping my assault rifle and drawing my knife and pistol for close quarters combat. Dropping into a slide, I cut the legs of one trooper before blasting another's head off with my pistol and spinning to deliver a massive kick to a juggernaut sending it flying headfirst into the wall, disappearing in a flash of light. By that time my suit energy was so low that a single shot from the last standing Geth in the group brings down my armor mode, however it goes down riddled with pistol shots. Jumping to where I dropped my assault rifle I grabbed it and ducked behind cover as a large amount of shots flew around me.

Peeking over the wall I was hiding behind I drew a grenade and threw it at another group of Geth. Due to SECOND's calculations and minor adjustments to my throwing arm the grenade landed in the perfect spot to take out the entire group of Geth. By that time my suit had fully recharged and while the elevated walkway looked awfully inviting due to the elevation, it would allow me to be attacked from two sides with no cover. Deciding however to quickly run up and clear it of Geth and escaping would remove their height advantage for the time being, and It would allow me to plant a little surprise for any more Geth deciding to hid up there.

Activating power mode I charged around to the ramp leading up to the walkway, peppering Geth with inaccurate rifle fire as I ran, at least bringing down two troopers. I holstered my assault rifle taking out my knife and pistol again as I would be engaging at short range now. A Geth shock trooper charged me but I stabbed it and threw it over the edge before sliding and putting a few rounds into a sniper. I tackled another sniper, sinking my blade into its neck before spinning and kicking its body into another sniper- which didn't do a thing as the body disappeared just before it impacted causing me to curse and bring up my pistol to bring it down before grabbing the last sniper and throwing it off the walkway. Quickly pulling out some explosive charges I scattered them along the walkway before jumping over the edge of the walkway to land on a Geth that was aiming up at me, however it was not fast enough to stop me from crashing into him. Drawing my assault rifle I took down five more Geth as I charged into a building nearby. Spotting four Geth raising their weapons at me. Jumping forward I landed on one jamming my assault rifle in another and pulling the trigger while crushing the one I landed on with me knee. Spinning, I backhanded the third trooper sending it flying into the last allowing me to riddle them with holes.

Jumping through the window I came across another group of Geth with their weapons pointed at the doorway, completely unprepared for my sudden appearance. Allowing me to take them out with ease. Spotting two Geth running towards me in the distance I grabbed my sniper rifle and took them both out. This continued for a while with new Geth spawning in and me taking them out just as quickly.

After taking out quite a few Geth I started taking fire from the walkway again causing me to look up and see at least 4 troopers and 4 snipers standing there. Deciding that that was a good amount I detonated the charges I had place there sending parts flying everywhere. I continued my Geth destroying rampage as the amount and difficulty of the Geth kept getting ramped up until finally Admiral Ahern's voice came over the loudspeaker

"**Alright Agent. We have one more thing for you. Lets see if you can take it.**

I paused as a drop ship flew over the battlefield dropping a colossus down. Immediately cloaking I ducked behind some cover to come up with a plan. Unfortunately the colossus seemed to know my approximate position as it started stomping towards me firing its weapon all around me. It was then that I remembered one of its weak points. While normally I would never do something this reckless without testing it thoroughly in a simulation I decided to try it out anyway. Waiting for my energy to recharge I grabbed my remaining explosive charge and activated power mode before charging towards the colossus.

When It saw me it stopped and started firing at me, forcing me to allocate some energy to armor so that I wouldn't get hurt. As I neared the colossus a shot got through my armor and impacted me in the arm. While it didn't break through the suit it still stung and I dropped into a slide. Sliding underneath the colossus I threw the charges up causing them to stick to the lightly armored bottom section. When I slid out from underneath the Colossus I immediately detonated the charges.

I slowly stood up as virtual debris and fire rained down on me. "Well that worked reasonably well." I muttered looking over at the entrance which was opening. I stepped in the elevator that brought me up to the main level.

"Hot damn." The admiral said as I walked out of the elevator "No one has got that far before. And we have had a few Phantoms and inquisitors here as well. Why the only one who even got close to what you got was uh... what was his name?... Atlas? Yeah that was it. Atlas."

"Atlas? An Inquisitor eh? How far did he get?" I asked.

"Well he got up to the Colossus. He had used all his heavier ordinance by the time he got to it though, and got hit by a lucky pulse cannon shot." Ahern replied

"Well I will be sure to tell him that I beat him." I said smirking as I thought of what Atlas's reaction would be when I told him I beat his record. "So what was my kill count?" I asked.

"246 kills in total, with 67 kills in melee combat, 125 kills with ranged weaponry and 54 explosive kills." Ochren said. That would be 5.7 times what Vidinos scored."

"Well well well. It seems that Vidinos will be staying in the stockade for a while." I said.

"Yes he is. He is already in there." Ochren said.

"Well that was fast. Here I was expecting to have to drag him in there myself." I said.

"He actually went willingly after you killed the Colossus." Shepard said coming up beside me.

"Well that's nice. So Shepard... You ready to try and beat my record?" I asked jokingly.

"Pfft. I wouldn't be able to beat your score because I would run out of energy before I was halfway there. I don't have the speed to do such a thing." She said crossing her arms.

"Sure you do. You just need to learn how to work your armor better." I said. "And the only way to do that is to practice so off in the simulator with you!" I said.

It didn't take long before Shepard was back in the simulator and killing some more Geth while I was watching through the video feed from their helmet cams and the cameras within the test chamber. Overall the Shepard and her team did quite well. I could however tell that they were not used to Ghost armor but they were learning quickly. Shepard made sure to change her team around often to make sure that everyone would get some combat time in.

After a few hours Joker called in from the Normandy while Shepard was in a simulation. He told me that there was a message for Shepard coming in. I in turn told him that I would inform Shepard when she came out of her current mission, which didn't take long. After telling her we headed for the Normandy, waving to Admiral Ahern on our way out.

I was just about to head to my office when Shepard said "Wait a minute Wraith. You might want to listen to this message."

"As you wish Shep." I responded sightly surprised before following her to the captains quarters where she played the message.

"Shepard. It's Admiral Kahoku. I found out who set that trap for my men. The ones killed by a thresher maw. I really hope you get this message. Its important. It was a group called Cerberus. They were an Alliance black ops organization. Top secret, highest level security clearance. They vanished a few months ago. No one knows where they went or what they were doing. They dropped right of the grid. They have gone completely rogue Shepard. Conducting illegal genetic experiments. I think they are trying to create some kind of super-soldier. I don't have any proof, but I did find the coordinates for one of their research worlds. I'm uploading them with this message. They are completely out of control. Somebody needs to stop them. I've done my part. They are after me now, so the rest is up to you. I am also sending a message to CryNet. They are probably also the only ones able to do anything about them. The alliance can't, or won't, do anything. Neither will the Council. This is probably the last you'll hear from me. Cerberus is after me. I need to disappear before they find me or I will be dead or worse. Kahoku out."

"Cerberus." I stated narrowing my eyes.

"You know them?" Shepard asked me.

"I heard of them. Just knew that they were Alliance black ops. There are some rumors about Cerberus, none of them are good. We should head over there ASAP, take out that base, and see if we can find info on other Cerberus positions." I said.

"Right... Joker, set coordinates for Binthu in the Yangtze system." Shepard said hitting the intercom to the bridge on her desk.

"Alright. So how was the GHOST armor?" I asked.

"Excellent. It did everything you said it would and more. Which reminds me, I got the impression that you knew this Atlas person Ahern was talking about." Shepard said.

"I do." I said. "He was actually the one who designed and created Ghost armor and was the first Inquisitor." I said. "You should know him. Ryan Mitchell. The best N7 Operative before he left the Alliance to join CryNet."

"You mean _the _Ryan Mitchell?" Shepard asked me surprised.

"Why yes. The one whose records you broke in training." I said smirking. "Well almost all his records."

"How did you get him to join CryNet?" Shepard asked me.

"He actually came to us first. He saw the Nanosuit in action a few times I believe and he thought it would be good to have a specialized armor that wasn't as expensive as the Nanosuit, but more advanced than normal armor. With a masters in mechanical engineering and a basic working knowledge of the nanosuit he came up with a rough schematic.

He went to the Alliance first to try and get them to fund the project but they turned him down. Their R&D budget and resources were tied up in the Normandy project at the time. So he came to CryNet with the schematic. Needless to say we immediately jumped on the idea and offered Mitchell a spot as a researcher and designer for the new armor.

When we decided to start up the Inquisitor Corps, Mitchell was the first to sign up. He is also, last I checked, the best Inquisitor in CryNet. Every Inquisitor and Phantom agent has sparred with him as a part of their training, and they aren't certified in CQC until he approves. Hell, I've seen him take out some of the newer Phantoms in one on one fights when both were wearing their suits." I said finishing up my story.

"Well that's surprising." Shepard said. "I didn't know that that is where Mitchell went to after he left the Alliance. Him leaving was always a big mystery to everyone in N7 training." She said.

"I can imagine." I said laughing. "But now I really need to check in with CryNet. It's possible this thing with Cerberus could turn into a fully fledged shadow war." I said somberly.

"Really?" Shepard asked me.

"Depending on what we find on Binthu yes." I sighed. "Well see you later Shepard." I said leaving her quarters and heading towards my office.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Alright. Well First of all I have to thank DN7 once more for his help. He has kindly allowed me to use his character Atlas or Ryan Mitchell from his story Mass Effect: The Unsung Hero. He also helped me with the description of the Ghost armor. <em>

_So now then we learned about CNTAP the CryNet training and proving grounds also called Valhalla by the operatives. CNTAP will come after the battle of the citadel yet still before shep dies. Atlas will not be playing a very large role in NE1, however we will see him in CNTAP and in NE2 and probably NE3 depending on ME3. _

_Here are the colors of the different Ghost armors for the team._

_Shep: Black with Red (N7)_

_Kaiden: Steel blue (L2)_

_Ash: Steel blue with white (212)_

_Garrus: Navy blue with black (Gold eagle)_

_Wrex: Dark red with black (Scarring pattern over his eye ports)_

_Tali: Purple with black (Omni-tool)_

_Liara: Black with light blue (Flaring star)_

_The stuff in quotations are the things they add to their armor to help with battlefield recognition/for fun_

_Well all that is done so I will see you with the next chapter! Review if you have something constructive to say.. And above all else Enjoy!_


	8. Chapter 8: The Vegetable Crysis

**Important A/N at the end! Please read it!**

**As it is I don't own Mass effect or Crysis.**

"You ready Shep?" I asked as I joined Shepard, Kaiden and Liara in the cargo hold.

"You bet." Shepard grinned "So we'll be dropping in the Mako, then you will drop from about 2km up using your fancy HALOM there to land near the second base, correct?"

"That's correct." I nodded.

"Oh my... Two kilometers?" Liara said, her eyes widening slightly.

"Eh... Don't worry about it." I shrugged. "I've trained extensively on how to use these things. I am able to do a fast drop from about 3km up without vaporizing myself and I can drop from even higher by activating the HALOM at high altitudes to pretty much float down." I commented.

"You'll then clear that base out while we take out the first," Shepard continued, "and we'll all meet up at the last base to clear it out together. Finally everyone needs to be on the lookout for any data about Cerberus while we're down there."

"Right, well I suppose we should link up our VI's?" Kaiden interjected.

"Yes right. SECOND?" I asked.

"_**Preparing for GHOST link. Initializing. . . GHOST link established. All systems online."**_

"Ok Commander. You might want to get in the Mako, we're nearing the drop-point. ETA two minutes." Jokers voice came over the intercom.

"Alright people! Get in the Mako! Lets move it!" Shepard ordered and waved her team into the mako.

"See you on the ground Shep!" I said as she closed the door and sealed it.

"Alright, check check... You lot all hear me?" Kaiden asked over the communicators.

"Loud and clear." Shepard responded.

"Yes, I can hear you." Liara informed us.

"CryNet builds its stuff to work you know Kaiden." I commented smirking slightly.

"Alright Commander. We are dropping you now. Have a pleasant flight!" Joker said happily as the cargo bay opened and soon the Mako drove out. A few minutes later Joker informed me that we were hovering in position for me to make my drop.

"Gotcha. See you all later!" I shouted over the wind and jumped out of the cargo bay tucking my arms at my side and shooting down towards the distant ground. SECOND displayed my rapidly dropping altitude on my visor and I soon felt the HALOM slowly kick in. First it kept me at a safe speed to make sure I don't go too fast but soon it fully activated to lower my mass to such a degree so that I wouldn't have too much energy hitting the ground. About 1000m from the ground I flipped in midair and spread out my arms and legs to slow my fall further and at the last moment I flipped once more to land feet first. I impacted the ground with a loud thud sinking into a crouch and stabilizing myself with my fist.

"The Wraith has landed... What's your status Shep?" I asked disconnecting the HALOM and dropping it.

"We are approaching the first base. Good luck with your base Wraith. Shepard out."

I took off towards the base I was to take out and before long it came into view. _Two anti-vehicle turrets on top of the base. I should be able to run in without being hit._

"_**Maximum Power."**_

I jumped up from my prone position and sprinted towards the entrance to the underground base. About halfway there the turrets spotted me and started firing rockets at me all of which I dodged. When I reached the entrance the turrets stopped firing, no doubt a security measure to keep them from damaging the facility itself. Quickly hacking the door I entered the base after waiting for my energy to recharge. Immediately cloaking I entered a room with three Cerberus guards nervously watching the corridor that I just came in through. The room was rather open with only two pieces of cover. Two guards were hiding behind the first piece of cover, while the last was hiding behind the second piece farther behind the other two. I snuck past them and came up from behind to take them out quietly.

The guard that was farther back from the other two allowed me to easily kill him by stabbing him through the back of the neck immediately catching him and lowering him slowly to the floor without the others noticing due to their talking. I then crept up on the last two and grabbed both of them by the neck and twisting my arm, snapping their necks. I left them lying there and walked through the next door which opened up to a corridor leading to a large room in the middle of the base. I cloaked and walked through the door which caused some confusion among the researchers working there.

What I saw stopped me short shaking my head in disgust. I saw what could only be classified as zombies inside a cage with kinetic barriers. The room had four pillars in the middle of the base from which the kinetic barriers were generated. At the back of the room there was another door with the word 'Barracks' written over it. Looking around I saw the controls to the barriers unoccupied at the moment which gave me the perfect opportunity to sneak over and deactivate the barriers. The moment the barriers dropped the zombie like things charged out and started spewing acid on the researchers who immediately panicked and a squad of Cerberus guards came running out of the barracks and began engaging the zombies. After a rather short battle the zombies were wipe out, however quite a few Cerberus guards were killed or injured, while almost all of the researchers were killed.

Taking out my assault rifle, I uncloaked out of view of the Cerberus personnel who were arguing among themselves as to what happened. The guards were accusing the scientists of making some mistake or other, while the scientists were saying a guard must have accidentally shut down the barriers. Once my energy was at full charge I activated armor mode and stepped out assault rifle blazing. The Cerberus personnel were taken completely by surprise by my sudden appearance and by the time any of them raised their weapons at me they were all dead. The injured guards were also gunned down as they tried to attack me. _They chose their fate when joining a terrorist organization._

Shrugging I went through the entire base not finding any more guards or researchers. I did however find a computer terminal that I was able to hack into and I downloaded any intel that I could find. I also shut down the turrets on the base to so that I wouldn't have to deal with them on my way out, before turning to leave. Just as I was leaving the room with the dead zombies SECOND spoke up.

"_**Unknown species... Suggest scanning alien tissue."**_

"Good point." I muttered turning towards the dead body of a 'zombie' and swiping my hand across some of its green blood.

"_**Tissue sample detected. Activating interface. Stand by. . . **_

_**Processing. . . **_

_**Assimilation complete. DNA profiling complete. Target DNA shows human genetic base with large amount of modification. Enlarged gastrointestinal acid glands allow for disgorging of a dangerous acid."**_

_Nasty... _I thought as I stood up and left the base. "Shepard, it's Wraith. I cleared out this base. I am heading over to the last one now." I radioed over to Shepard's team.

"Copy that Wraith. We finished up here as well and are on our way there also. We'll stop out of view of the base so that you can find a good place for us to come in." Shepard responded.

"Roger. I am on my way." I shut off the comm, activated Power mode, and started running towards the last base at a speed that was faster than what most could run yet wasn't using up any suit energy.

Ten minutes later I came across the last base and I stopped before activating my tactical visor and checking over the area. "Shepard, it looks like the same setup as with my last base and most likely your last base. Single structure protected by two heavy turrets. I will mark them and send the info to you. You can then use that info to target the guns accurately from afar with the Mako." I reported "Or you can just charge in and take em out while trying not to get hit." I added smirking.

"Well taking them out from afar would be safer, but it would give those inside more warning. Besides the Mako will be able to stand up to a few shots that we can't dodge." Shepard responded.

"You got it Shep." I chuckled and a few seconds later the Mako came rolling into view, its main cannons blazing. I charged forward as the last cannon was destroyed and arrived at the building right before the Mako drove up and stopped. I was already hacking through the door by the time Shepard, Kaiden and Liara got out.

"Go!" Shepard ordered when the door opened and I went in first with Shepard followed closely by Kaiden and Liara. In the first room we were met by four guards who immediately started firing at us forcing me to activate armor mode. "Liara, singularity now! Kaiden Sabotage! Wraith kill that target!" Shepard started snapping out orders using the GHOST armor's tactical VI to highlight a target for me to take out. I was already raising my assault rifle and spewing out rounds before the singularity and sabotage hit the group of guards. Once they were flying around with their shields down I hit my target with a shot to the head before turning and peppering another guard with fire. The last two were taken down by Shepard's shotgun and the two pistols from Kaidan and Liara.

"Clear!" I called out and we all moved towards the door leading on. "Now I don't know how it was for you but at the last base this lead to a large room with freaking acid puking zombies."

"That is... Disturbing." Liara shuddered.

"We had some kind of suicide bug that tried to get close before blowing themselves up in an acidic explosion." Shepard commented dryly "Not fun... Fast little fuckers."

"Well that sucks." I replied flatly. "You ready?" I asked as we came to the door leading to the main room.

"Of course." Shepard answered. "Go!"

I activated armor mode as the door opened and I sprinted out and into cover behind a pillar as multiple shots impacted on my armor. Before I could say anything SECOND began marking all targets it could find in the area and informed me of a group of enemies just around the corner. Pulling out an incendiary grenade I armed and tossed it around the corner, making sure my energy levels were high.

"FIRE IN THE HOLE BITCHES!" I shouted out as the grenade detonated in a blast of fire and I got out of cover and started mowing down any surviving Cerberus personnel while walking through the flames of the grenade, probably looking like a demon from hell to these poor bastards. As the last one fell I looked over my shoulder to see Shepard just finishing of the last of the guards with her shotgun before turning to look at me.

"You just can't resist showing off can you?" She asked dryly.

"It got the job done ya know" I answered, smirking underneath my helmet.

"Now... What the hell is that?" Shepard asked as she turned to look at something held in the kinetic barrier causing me to turn and look.

"I have no idea. The kinetic barrier is distorting the image too much to get a good ID." I said after the suits' visor didn't give any readings. "You guys ready to kill them if they prove hostile?" I asked.

"Yeah. We should take positions." Shepard glanced around "Kaidan over there. Be ready to move. Liara, over there same thing. Wraith you turn off the barriers since you can get back here fastest."

"You got it Shepard." I took my position by the controls and activated power mode.

"Liara, I want you to stasis that big bug, and you Kaidan will stasis the other. That will allow us to take out the smaller suicide ones before the first of the larger ones comes out of stasis allowing us to take them out one by one." Shepard ordered. "Alright Wraith. Whenever you are ready."

I hit the release button and jumped back to where Shepard was standing. Spinning around to face the bugs I saw that the two bigger ones were in a stasis while there were about six small bugs running towards us. I swept my assault rifle over two of them while Shepard did the same causing four of them to explode. The last two were taken out by Liara and Kaidan who hit them with their pistols. Holstering my assault rifle I drew my Sniper rifle and lined up my cross hairs on the head of the bug that would be coming out of stasis first. A few tense seconds later the stasis wore off and I nailed it with a single shot to the head. The last bug came out of stasis soon after that but was taken out by a lift, throw and warp combo from Liara, Kaidan and Shepard respectively. With the bugs taken care of I noticed the body lying on the floor.

"Shepard. It's Kahoku." Kaidan said as he also saw it. I joined Shepard as she walked over to the body and scanned it.

"Hmmm. No real trauma on his body. Track marks on his arm, and a deadly toxin in his bloodstream. He was executed by lethal injection, and was most likely dead by the time he was put in here with the bugs." I commented looking over the data that appeared on my visor.

"Damn... Unfortunately there is nothing we can do for him now other than inform the Alliance." Shepard sighed.

"I want to know what these insects are." Kaidan said looking over at the corpses of the bugs.

"Well... Let's see shall we?" I walked towards the nearest corpse, the one I had shot through the head and swiped my fingers over its blood.

"_**Tissue sample detected. Activating interface. Stand by. . . **_

_**Processing. . . **_

_**Assimilation complete. DNA profiling complete. Scanning for DNA match. . . **_

_**DNA identified. Species: Rachni."**_

"What... The... Fuck?" I mumbled shocked.

"What is it Wraith?" Shepard asked.

"These are Rachni!" I exclaimed running even more scans of the blood.

"Rachni? They should be extinct!" Liara said just as shocked as the rest.

"_**Genetic sequences indicate that this Rachni is a Soldier."**_

"So Cerberus got their hands on Rachni. Where the hell did they get those from?" Shepard wondered.

"I wish I knew. Let's see if there is a terminal nearby where I can find some information." I stated standing up from my kneeling position and walking over to the next room. It was empty however there was a still booted up terminal there and I immediately had SECOND hack it. "Hmm... Let's see here. A ship delivered Rachni soldiers and workers to this base and just workers to another. Before that, the same ship delivered something they called 'Thorian Creepers', which were most likely those zombie things at my base...

"I wonder what else is here...

Cerberus security protocols? oh boy that's nice...

Aha!

Ship name and identification number! We should be able to track it with those!

Hmm whats this? Another base? In the Voyager cluster hmm that's right here...

Colombia system... Planet Nepheron... Wait... Looks like that's Cerberus's main base of operations around here. That should definitely have some good intel...

Well now. That's about everything I can find here." I finished my monologue and looked up at Shepard to see her, Liara, and Kaidan with their helmet face plates retracted with amused expressions on their faces. "What?"

"Alright. We are done here. Lets head back to the Normandy." Shepard ordered with a smile and we left the base to rendezvous with the Normandy, picking up my dropped HALOM on the way.

* * *

><p><em>One hour later, Normandy enroute to Colombia system.<em>

"The trip should take us a few hours. I think that now would be a good time for that movie don't you think?" Shepard asked me as she walked down from the Galaxy map.

"Heh. Right you are. Now is an excellent time for that movie. Down in the mess?" I suggested as there were two screens there that we could use.

"Yeah. You wanna go and get it ready while I gather anyone who wants to watch?"

"You got it Shep. I guess we should start with Episode IV eh?" I asked.

"Yeah. Get it set up for us. I'll be right down." I nodded and Shepard turned towards the elevator to inform the rest of the team while I walked towards the command console for the screens in the mess.

"Hey Kaidan. We are gonna be watching a movie now. You interested?" I asked as I walked past him.

"Sure. What are we watching?"

"Star Wars Episode IV. It's for those unfortunate few who never have watched Star Wars before." I declared dramatically.

Kaiden's mouth twitched into a slight smirk at my antics "I am sure it will be fun."

"Oh yeah it will. Now I have to set this up before Shepard gets back or she might throw me out the airlock. And let me tell you I do not want to take an unplanned trip in space. The suit might protect me from most of the stuff out there but it would get boring fast."

Kaidan shook his head smirking at me "I'll help you set it up then."

Shepard arrived just after I finished setting everything up with Garrus, Tali, Ashley, Liara and Wrex looking like he was dragged up. Not long after that our movie night got underway and we had quite a bit of fun. When the film finished most of us stayed in the mess and had something to eat. I was the only exception and wasn't eating anything.

"Don't you ever eat Wraith?" Shepard asked amused as she saw me.

"Well the suit gives me enough energy to not need to eat. But only if it can get enough energy from its environment. If I am operating in a low energy environment then I have to eat about as much as biotics do." I responded leaning back.

"Damn. But it can't get rid of an empty stomach though right?" Garrus commented.

"Well no but it can reduce the empty feeling and you get used to it in time. And really I wouldn't want to eat military rations you know? They taste horrible."

"I won't argue with that." Ashley laughed as she poked her fork at the dehydrated/rehydrated meat on her plate.

Right then SECOND informed me of an urgent transmission coming in from CryTell. "Just a minute guys. Something urgent just came up." I said disabling my external speakers and opening a secure channel. "What is it Axel?"

"I tracked that ship ID you found on Binthu, Wraith. Using the other intel you got me I was able to determine where it picked up its cargo of those Thorian Creepers. The part of the intel about where they got the Rachni though is heavily encrypted and will take some time to decode.

The ship that carried the Creepers however, stopped at Feros before it heading to Binthu. I've did some digging, and got some data for you to look over. Sending it to you now." Axel informed me as my visor darkened and it began showing me several windows of information on Feros, including recent ExoGeni, Cerberus and Geth activity. "As you can see ExoGeni is apparently very interested in something there. I wasn't able to find much more. Figured you would be interested, maybe send a team there to get some intel."

"Feros. The colony is under attack by Geth, who seem to be very interested in it as well. Hmmm... Something has there to draw all three parties. As for sending a team, I believe that Shepard will be heading there to find information on Saren. It's either Feros or Noveria, and I might be able to get her to go there first given this new bit of intelligence." I mused still looking at all the data on Feros.

"Good. I really don't know what could be there. Must be pretty important for ExoGeni, Cerberus, and the Geth to all be there. Makes you wonder why we haven't heard about it yet..." Axel wondered.

"Well ExoGeni is probably keeping it under wraps. Saren might know about it because he was a Spectre. As far as Cerberus goes they could have an interest or a mole in ExoGeni." I speculated. "I am sure that we will find something to explain all of this there. Anything else?"

"No, but Derek did say that the TAC is entering its final stages. I think he said that it is going to be tested within the week." Axel reported.

"Excellent. Well if that's it, just remember to keep me up to date." I reminded him.

"When have I let you down Wraith? Axel out." Axel finished with a chuckle and closed the channel. SECOND reactivated the external speakers and my visor cleared to see that Shepard was the only other person in the mess.

"Well then... Everyone else is gone?" I inquired jolting Shepard out of her thoughts.

"Yeah. We're about six hours out and I told them to get some rest." Shepard answered.

"Ok. Sorry about that but I got some new intel. Apparently Cerberus got their zombies, which are officially known as Thorian Creepers, from Feros. I knew that we are going to head there eventually, but it might be a good idea to head there ASAP." I said.

"Good point. We can probably go there after this mission. I was actually thinking we would since the colony is under attack." Shepard nodded. "Well I am gonna turn in get a few hours of sleep. You might want to do the same."

"Nah... I don't really need to sleep. I have some work to do. I might take a short nap though." I informed her as I stood up.

"If you say so." She said unconvinced "I will see you later, Wraith."

"See you Jane." I said softly watching Shepard enter her quarters before heading into my office to check up on some reports. When I entered my office I remembered that I didn't see if I could get any upgrades from the Rachni or the Thorian creepers. "SECOND. Can I get any upgrades from the data on the last mission?"

"_**Affirmative. Thorian creepers and Rachni utilize Acid for their attacks. Able to create an acid resistance." **_

"Got it. Begin upgrades now." I said turning towards my reports.

Five hours later Shepard's voice came over the intercom telling Tali and Ashley to suit up and for me to join her in the briefing room to plan our assault. Four minutes later, Shepard and I were pouring over information on Nepheron. After a preliminary scan of the planet we discovered the location of the base and figured that there would probably only be a few guards on the outside and that we should be able to take them out quickly.

"You know what?" I asked looking over the area map, "If you could get a line of sight on all the guards and relay their locations to me I could drop right on top of them."

"True. The surprise would be enough time to kill them all before they could get a shot off." Shepard commented a smirk spreading on her face. "Then once they are taken out quickly without those on the inside realizing that the outside guards are dead we could take those by surprise as well."

"My thoughts exactly." I stated. "If the ones on the inside don't know that we are there then I could sneak in and hit them from behind while you go in loudly."

"Sounds like a plan." Shepard agreed. "Get your gear. I will be dropping in the Mako soon. I'll tell you when we are in position."

"Got it." I nodded and left the briefing room to get my gear. _Let's see... Suppressors for my weapons, modded ammo and flash bangs should be enough_ I thought but still grabbed a couple of explosive charges _Hmm only five left... I should get some more._ I mused before grabbing my HALOM and and heading to the cargo bay.

As I entered the cargo bay I saw Shepard and her team preparing to enter the Mako. Acknowledging each other we linked up our VI's and SECOND and a few minutes later the Mako dropped out of the Normandy. I kept watch through their helmet cams as they made their way to the base. Shepard seemed to have a rather unique driving style in that it seemed to make Tali rather sick.

"Heh, you know Shep, I like your driving style. It looks very exciting." I commented over the radio after about ten minutes of watching her drive.

"Screw you Wraith. I would like to see you drive better in this damn thing." Shepard cursed.

"Hell I wasn't joking Shep, I think that I would love it." I chuckled. "Maybe I'll get to ride in that damn thing sometime."

"You can take my place anytime Wraith." Tali's voice came over the comms.

It didn't take much longer until Shepard stopped just out of view of the base and the team exited the Mako and went the rest of the way on foot to stay hidden from the Cerberus guards. "Alright Wraith, we're in position. I see four guards down there. Two of them look like snipers and the other two are anti-tank's. Looks like they are ready for almost anything." Shepard commented.

"Right." I muttered watching the video feed. "Joker you know the drill. The planet has about the same mass as Earth so drop me about four kilometers up."

"You got it Wraith. I am gonna drop you right on top of those bastards."

I nodded and headed towards the cargo bay door. "Hey Wraith. I expect this to be good. I'm watching your video feed for this." Shepard radioed.

"You got it Shep." I chuckled and as the Normandy got in position I walked to the edge of the cargo bay and when I got the signal leaped out and started falling headfirst once more. I hurtled towards the ground with my arms tucked to my sides and about 1500 meters from the ground I started slowing my fall by spreading my arms. As I neared the base the locations of the four guards showed up on my visor and I started positioning myself above the outermost guard.

A couple seconds later I flipped to fall feet first and landed directly on top of a guard crushing him beneath my feet. Rolling forward I pulled out my suppressed assault rifle and riddled the second sniper with bullets before he could react. The third and fourth by that time were just beginning to raise their weapons leaping up and over the pair of guards I tore through the shields of one of them and hit him multiple times before releasing my hold on my assault rifle and as I began to fall back down slammed my fist into the head of the last guard and pulping it, causing his blood to splatter on me. "Alright get down here. We got a few minutes to surprise these guys. I'll tell you when I'm in position now." I radioed, wiping most of the gore off of my suit and hacking the door.

"Got it, coming." Shepard said and a minute later she came running up with Ashley and Tali in tow. By that time I had hacked the door, making sure to disable any alarms, and entered the base cloaked. Sneaking into the base was rather easy and it didn't take long before I reached the back of the base. "Alright Shep. I'm in the base. There is a single large room inside the base, with a lot of cover. There are about 25 guards spread out. Attack when ready."

It didn't take long for the sounds of gunfire to reach me and the room immediately exploded with activity as guards took up positions to defend against the assault. Unfortunately for them I was still relaying guard numbers and positions to the team. "Alright Shepard. The next room has all the guards. Try not to hit me with a warp this time, ok?"

"I said I was sorry!" Shepard cried out. "You guys heard him, watch your targets." A few seconds later the armored figures of Shepard, Tali and Ashley came bursting in the door guns blazing taking out three guards in the initial assault before being forced behind cover. Smirking as the gunfire from both sides would hide any sounds I'd make, I drew my pistol in my left hand and holding my knife in a reverse grip with my right hand, I walked up behind a group of three guards clumped together.

Uncloaking behind them I aimed my pistol at a guard before stabbing another through the neck and pulling the trigger both guards fell to the floor dead as my modded rounds bypassed the guards shields and impacted directly in his head. I spin kicked the last guard of the group, who still didn't notice his buddies dying, into the wall smashing open his skull. Cloaking once more I ran over to another group of two guards and smashed their heads together. A single guard noticed me and started to shout out to his buddies when I put a trio of bullets into his brain. The damage however had been done and a group of three rushed at me but were dropped by fire from Shepard's team as they left their cover.

Quickly sheathing my knife and pistol I drew my assault rifle and sprinted at another group that was turning towards me. Dropping into a slide I activated armor mode while nailing the first two. Sliding to a stop, I rolled backward to come up standing and taking down the last three with accurate bursts. Jumping forward away from my most recent massacre, I cloaked hiding completely from the rest of the guards who, by that time, were panicking as they were taking fire from the front in the form of Shepard's team and were being picked off by me.

"Something else is in here!" SECOND had hacked the Cerberus comms and the chatter from Cerberus was very amusing.

"Its a fucking ghost! There is a fucking ghost in here!"

"Pull yourselves together people. Just watch your backs-" The Cerberus officer broke off as his head exploded due to a nice shot from Ashley's sniper rifle.

As they lost another five troops to Shepard's squad I could see that their morale was just about broken, especially with their officer dead. Sneaking up behind another group I uncloaked and grabbed one of them and held him in front of me as a human shield. This caused the rest of the the Cerberus guys to turn and exit cover to try and shoot me, however in their sudden panic at seeing me they forgot all about Shepard's team who mowed them down easily.

When the final shots rang out I deactivated armor mode. "Well that went well."

"Thanks for getting them out of cover there Wraith." Shepard said.

"No problem. They must have been pretty panicked to have forgotten about you." I answered my grin evident in my voice.

"Probably," Shepard agreed smirking.

"Let's go and see what kind of intel they have here shall we?" I asked and we all headed through the doorway leading to a corridor with two rooms on either side of us. The first didn't have anything of interest but the second had a computer terminal which caught our attention. Shepard was about to press some buttons when I quickly grabbed her hands "Wait a minute Shep. I wouldn't be surprised if they had a fail safe that they activated when we first assaulted the base. If the operator doesn't immediately input the correct code then it flashes itself." I said.

"Well then. Do you have a workaround?" Shepard asked me.

"Why I think I do. SECOND should be able to stop the thing from flashing itself, Right SECOND?"

"_**Affirmative. Hacking. . . **_

_**Bypassing failsafe. . . **_

_**Failsafe bypassed. Downloading all local data. . . **_

_**Local data download complete. **_

_**Hacking Cerberus data network. . . **_

_**Hack complete. Downloading data. . . **_

_**Download 25% complete. . . **_

_**Download 50% complete. . . **_

_**Download aborted. Reason: Emergency network shutdown. 58% data download complete." **_

"Wow. That was. . ." I mumbled shocked.

"What? What is it?" Tali asked me as she was probably the one with the most tech experience here.

I smirked "They have really bad security. SECOND was able to not only get all the data on this terminal here. But SECOND also got 57% of all data in this Cerberus Cell's data network before they shut us out. And hear this, in order to shut us out they had to shut down the entire network."

Everyone looked at me stunned, uttering different versions of "Wow..." in awe.

"I know right?" I grinned madly. "They must have not expected an AI to hack their network. I must say though, their security is pretty damn good. Probably better than Alliance, about as good as the Citadel, but a bit below the STG's own security. Of course CryNet's security blows them all out of the water with its AI's. A multitude of AI's all working together can stop anything before it gets anything of interest." After that short monologue and a few grumbles from Tali about our use of AI's we left the base to board the Normandy and head towards Feros.

Once on the ship, everyone left to take off their armor and get some rest before Feros while I sent the data to CryTell. About two hours out from Feros, Shepard showed up.

"Hey Martin," She greeted me as the door closed.

I cocked my head at her "So you are using my name are you?" I asked playfully.

She smiled at me. "Of course. You're using mine so I figured I should use yours."

I nodded, remembering from before the mission. "I suppose it's only fair. So whats up?"

She became serious "I got a call from a Shadow Broker agent."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. He wanted me to give them a copy of the data we found on Nepheron. I didn't give it to him." She stated bluntly.

"Why not?" I asked curious.

"Firstly, it's classified Alliance data, so I can't let them have it blah blah blah. I don't really care about that, but also because I thought it wouldn't be good for the Shadow Broker to have info like that." She explained.

"Hmmm... Well in a way that wasn't a bad idea but at the same time giving the Shadow Broker information will make him owe you a favor. One that you can cash in on later. It could always be useful. But I suppose there is no right and wrong here. They both have their pros and cons. Besides it was probably the morally right thing to do." I commented.

"Oh good. I figured it was the right thing to do." She said slightly relieved.

"Remember to trust your instincts Jane. They will rarely lead you astray. Hell, that's how I survived this long that's for sure. Well that and the nanosuit." I mused.

Shepard laughed, "It's all the nanosuit isn't it?"

I pretended to look affronted "Well, I like to believe that _some_ skill was involved."

"So Feros. What do we know?"

"We know that ExoGeni started a colony there, which in itself is rather strange because other than the Prothean ruins there isn't anything of interest there. Also the fact that the Geth are attacking leads me to believe that there is something special there. Maybe some buried data cache or a unique species. Something that escaped our notice until now." I answered.

"Maybe they founda giant sentient plant?" Shepard quipped

I snorted and shook my head "Well I find that very unlikely. I am however very interested in what they have there. Who will you be taking on the team?" I asked.

"Wrex and Garrus."

"Hmmm... Since we are going into a relatively unknown environment I can't really specialize my equipment. I suppose that is why you are going Wrex and Garrus?" I inquired before continuing at her nod. "Means I will have to go with an all around loadout. Stealth route doesn't pay as we are going against Geth, so sniper rifle with plenty of Penetrator rounds and assault rifle with underslung grenade launcher. What do you think?"

"Good idea. If we can find a good sniper nest then you can give us sniper support." Shepard stated.

"Alright then. Anything else? I need to get myself ready."

"No. I will see you in the briefing room later then." Shepard said leaving.

"Right." I mumbled before settling myself in the cradle and finally running a scan to see what the suit did on Therum in response to the biotic warp. _Hmmm. New nano-routine in the deep layers. Knew about that of course. What is it doing? Changing the. . . ah-ha! It seems it is attempting to create eezo nodes in the suit with limited success. They should activate when a biotic attack is incoming to counteract the assault. However I believe it needs quite a bit more exposure to biotics to come up with anything really of value. Will need to run tests. Maybe after Feros, if nothing else comes up._ I mused looking over all the data on the suit. I was so absorbed in the information that I was quite surprised when SECOND informed me that it was time to go.

Shutting down the scan I stood up and powered down everything in my office and locked the door as I left. Entering the briefing room I saw that Garrus and Wrex were already there armored up and we immediately jumped straight into the planning. Shepard and I informed them of our strategy and after a few minor adjustments we all headed up to the bridge as Joker brought us into dock.

After leaving the ship we came across a colonist waiting for us. As we approached him he immediately started talking. "We saw your ship. Fai-Dan wants to speak with you immediately."

"Who's Fai-Dan?" Shepard asked confused.

"Our leader. He wants to speak with you right away." The colonist repeated.

"What's so important that can't wait?" Shepard wanted to know.

"The Geth are making another push. Fai-Dan is preparing our defenses and needs your help. Please up the stairs and past the freighter." At that moment I saw a Geth Shock trooper appear right behind him and aim his weapon at the colonist's back.

"Look out!" I shouted diving forward and knocking the colonist down as a rocket flew through the space he had occupied just a moment earlier. Dragging the colonist behind cover I drew my assault rifle and started helping the others clear out the Geth. Shepard's helmet had closed again hiding her face from view as she and Wrex were charging towards the Geth. Garrus had taken down one of the Geth already. The other two met their ends at the barrels of Shepard and Wrex's shotguns. As the bodies fell Shepard rolled into cover before poking her head up and sending out three orders. The first was for Garrus to overload a group of Geth, after which she lifted them all up. Right after that, Wrex hit all the lifted Geth with a biotic throw causing them to smash into another group of Geth further back. Shepard's last command was for me to fire a grenade into the group of Geth to get rid of them all.

"Eat 'nade you synthetic bastards!" I yelled out in glee as I fired a high explosive round into the group. The resulting explosion blasted all the Geth to smithereens.

"You know, you are also kinda synthetic with your suit." Shepard commented as the smoke cleared.

"Technically it's semi-organic." I replied reloading my grenade launcher. "Where's that colonist?"

I looked around, not seeing him I went back to where I had left him only to find him lying in a puddle of his own blood. "God damn it!" I shouted punching a nearby wall and leaving a gaping hole.

"He was hit by a stray bullet. Nothing you could have done." Garrus said looking over the body.

"Yes but he was a fucking innocent bystander. Come on. I need to kill some Geth." I growled grabbing my assault rifle and making my way on, anger coursing through me. It was then that SECOND decided that I was not in a good condition for combat and injected me with emotion suppressing neuro-chemical cocktail to calm me down and get me focused.

"Wraith! It wasn't your fault you know that right?" Shepard asked me as she came up beside me.

"Yes. I know that. But we have a mission to do and we should get back to that." I answered without any emotion. I could tell that Shepard and the rest of the squad were rather taken aback by my quick change in attitude, but due to SECOND I ignored it. We reached the stairs and almost immediately SECOND piped up.

"_**Threat Detected."**_

I glanced up and saw two Geth stalkers hanging off the wall. As I brought my assault rifle up it jumped away trying to escape my sights, but with the help of SECOND and the Nanosuit I was able to easily track it and take it down once it landed. Spinning to the next stalker I let loose a hail of bullets which it just barely escaped by jumping away. This time however SECOND was able to calculate where it would jump and I was able to bring it down midair.

"_**Hostiles Neutralized."**_

Heading up the stairs I let Shepard take point as the colonists would be less likely to shoot at her. Sure enough we came across a barricade with multiple colonists defending it. After getting directions Shepard walked through the colony to where Fai-Dan was standing with what looked like a rent-a-cop. It was during this time that SECOND decided that we wouldn't be in combat anytime soon and that I had calmed down enough to stop suppressing my emotions.

"Commander. Am I glad that they finally sent somebody to help us." Fai-Dan said as we walked up.

"You're a bit late aren't you?" The cop said snidely.

"Arcelia!" Fai-Dan rebuked her. "Sorry Commander. Everyone's been on edge since-"

I interrupted him when I noticed Geth in the tower behind Fai-Dan. "Look out! Geth, behind you!"

"Protect the heart of the colony!" Fai-Dan yelled. '_The heart of the colony'? _

Shepard rushed forward drawing her assault rifle as she went. Garrus followed close behind drawing his own while Wrex drew his shotgun. I hung back and drew my sniper rifle, setting its scope to low magnification. Shepard quickly took down two Geth troopers rather quickly. Seeing Wrex charge a shock trooper with his shotgun I focused my aim on the Geth farther back. I aimed at a sniper that was also hanging back and pulled the trigger. A loud crack of my rifle and the head of the sniper disintegrated in a shower of sparks. By then the rest of the Geth had been neutralized and we went up the stairs.

At the top there was a colonist cowering behind a low stone wall as multiple Geth stood in the doorway, firing at him. Before we could do anything he slumped down as a stray shot drilled through his head. Grimacing we rushed up the remaining stairs and through the doorway blasting the Geth that stood there. Shepard hit one with a powerful biotic throw that sent it flying into the stone wall where it made a sizable hole.

"_**Geth signatures detected. Waypoints updated."**_ SECOND piped up and showed us from where the signals were coming from.

"Right, Wrex and I will go in first. I want you two to come in after us. Use your sniper rifles and stay back." Shepard ordered "Wrex, Barriers up? Lets go"

Shepard and Wrex rushed through the doorway with Garrus and I following her. We entered a room with part of the ceiling missing and a drop ship was hovering over said hole. A bunch of Geth were already in the room and immediately started to fire upon us. Rolling into cover as Wrex charged a group of Geth to take their fire, I aimed my rifle at a trooper that was firing at our resident Krogan and took its head off. A loud report told me that Garrus had also just dropped a Geth. Wrex was easily handling himself in the midst of a bunch of Geth but my HUD informed me that his shields were dropping rather low. Taking out another trooper I noticed Shepard taking down trooper after trooper with her shotgun.

It was then that the dropship started dropping more Geth on us. "Wrex! Get back!" Shepard shouted. "We need to hold our position."

As Wrex and Shepard fell back to cover in front of Garrus and me, I was taking potshots as quickly as possible. Beside me Garrus was also taking down Geth after Geth. The last Geth landed with a louder thud than the rest and as it stood up it revealed the towering shape of a Geth Destroyer. Without wasting any time I aimed at its head and pulled the trigger. Its shields flared brightly but didn't drop. Firing again caused its shields to once more flare up but it still didn't drop. Glancing around I saw that the last Geth were being cleaned up by the rest of the team. Seeing that the other Geth would be busy I holstered my Sniper rifle and drew my Knife. "Cover me!" I shouted and jumped out of cover.

"_**Maximum Armor."**_

As I neared it, it fired its shotgun at me draining a quarter of my energy. Dropping in a slide I slid right into its legs staggering it a bit, allowing me to hock my blade around its legs and pull it down. I then grabbed its front and smashed it into the ground before sinking my knife into its head. Glancing up I saw the last trooper turning towards me rifle raised, I rolled to the side quickly grabbing the body of the destroyer as I went. As the trooper started firing at me I covered myself with the destroyers body allowing the shots to impact in it instead. Standing up I kicked the destroyer at the trooper knocking it down where it was finished off by a bast to the face from Shepard's shotgun.

"You know Wraith. You just love to take the reckless path don't you?" Shepard asked dryly.

"You do know that I will be the one staying back to give you long range sniper support Shep." I retorted.

"So you're just trying to fill your stunt quota for today?"

"Pretty much."

"Great... Lets get back to Fai-Dan. He should know where the rest of theGeth are." Shepard ordered.

"So... How many kills did you all get?" I asked as we headed back.

"I got six." Garrus said.

"Seven." Grunted Wrex.

"Seven as well." Shepard stated.

"Well I took down five troopers and that destroyer so that has to count for eight." I said.

"Nope. It still only counts as one." Shepard informed me.

"Oh come on! Well then what about that trooper that I brought down with the destroyer that has to give extra points!" I exclaimed.

"Nope Because I killed it." Shepard stated dryly.

"You getting old Wraith?" Wrex asked me.

"Oh hardy har har, Wrex. Like age would matter with this suit." I said as we came up to Fai-Dan.

"The tower is secure, thanks to you Commander." Fai-Dan said gratefully.

"It was easy." Shepard informed him.

"Well then I am very glad that you are on our side." He said.

"They may have been slowed, but they'll be back... They always come back." Arcelia commented.

"What do the Geth want though. Why are they attacking you?" Shepard wanted to know.

"If you want answers, go ask them yourselves." Arcelia snapped.

"We don't know what they want. They came and attacked us. That's all we know. I believe that their main base is at the ExoGeni headquarters. A good place as any to start looking if you want answers." Fai-Dan explained.

"The skyway leads directly to ExoGeni headquarters. You really can't miss it." Arcelia informed us.

"Providing you can get past the army of Geth on the way there." Fai-Dan remarked.

"Don't worry about that. We can deal with them." Shepard said confidently.

"Oh good. Then I might be able to get the colony operational again." He said relieved.

"What do you need to get this place up and running again?" I asked.

"We need the Geth destroyed."

"Arcelia is right." Fai-Dan acknowledged "There are still Geth in the tunnels. Not to mention the more mundane problems, like food, water and power. You should however ask the people overseeing them to find out more."

"Shepard. I could stay behind after giving you sniper support to deal with these problems. when I finish I can either head over to your location or wait for you to come back. It would allow us to get this done quickly enough." I said turning to Shepard.

"Good idea. Provided you can handle it." She agreed smirking at me.

"Of course I can. The question is if you can handle going off on your own without me." I retorted as we started heading for the elevator that would lead us to the skybridge. An elevator ride later found me setting up my sniper nest a couple of floors up from the skybride with a comm channel open to the Mako. "Alright Shep. I got a clear view of the sky bridge. It looks like it goes on for about 700 meters until it hits a larger building. I am fairly certain that that is not however the ExoGeni headquarters. So I will only be able to cover you until you hit that building. After that you are on your own."

"Got it Wraith. Any Geth out there?" Shepard's voice came through my radio.

"Negative. Sky bridge looks clear. Either there are no Geth, which I doubt, or they are hiding. So watch out." I advised.

"Copy that. We're moving out."

I heard the revving of an engine below me and saw the Mako exit the building directly below me.

"_**Incoming drop ship."**_

I glanced up at the incoming ship and radioed, "Shepard, we got a Geth drop ship incoming!" I lined up my cross hairs on a trooper that had just landed before sending a round through its head. I heard the staccato of the Mako's machine gun as well as the loud thud from its cannon as it to started engaging the dropping forces. Thanks to the suit steadying my aim and SECOND's calculations I was able to drop Geth after Geth, usually only taking a second or two to get a new target. Shepard was also able to take down groups of Geth simultaneously with the Mako's cannon, however the drop ship just kept dropping Geth down on the sky bridge.

"_**Critical threat identified."**_

"Aw shit. Shepard we got a Colossus!" I shouted over the radio.

"I see it!" Shepard shouted right back. "Use some of your Penetrator rounds!"

"I can't use them against a heavily shielded target! You would have to bring down its shields!" I yelled.

"Fine, keep taking down Geth, we will take down its shields." Shepard ordered.

"Tell me when you're almost there. I need time to get my rifle ready." I told her.

"Less talking more shooting!" Wrex's voice growled and from what I could tell he was having quite a bit of fun.

"You know Wrex... This reminds me of that one job we did." I remarked as I plugged a rocket trooper that was taking aim at the Mako before swiveling and nailing a juggernaut twice.

"It does! Me in the turret and you with the sniper." Wrex chuckled unloading a flurry of rounds into an armature. "Only this time its Geth."

"Would you please take your own advice and talk less?" Shepard's stressed voice called out as the Mako jumped over a pulse cannon shot from the colossus.

"Just trying to pass the time Shep." I said nailing a shock trooper and hitting a regular trooper behind it in the leg causing it to topple "Oh did you see that? Two Geth with one bullet!"

"I can think of better ways to pass the time during a freaking battle" Shepard remarked dryly.

"A battle? I think you are exaggerating it a bit Shep." Before all of a sudden the Geth spotted my location and started peppering me with small arms fire "Ah damn it never mind! They spotted me. Shepard what is the situation on those shields?" I asked hurriedly.

"Almost down Wraith, get ready to bring it down!" Shepard informed me.

"Copy that." I muttered pulling out a Penetrator round and setting up my rifle. Inserting the round I heard the low hum that told me the rifle was ready to fire. "Alright Shep. Penetrator armed and loaded."

"Its shields are just about down. Wrex hit it with the cannon!" Shepard said.

"With pleasure." The thud of the cannon sounded once more followed by the piercing sound of the Colossus's shields dropping. The Colossus, possibly sensing its imminent defeat, reared up and fired one more pulse towards the Mako. I however blocked out everything else and carefully lined up my cross hairs over the Colossus's head, before pulling the trigger. Once more my rifle barked loudly and the walking tank's head exploded in a shower of sparks, with the tell tale white trail showing the Geth exactly where I was if they hadn't noticed already. Almost immediately every Geth unit down there turned towards me and started blasting away. "Aw fuck. Shepard I'm pinned down now. I can't get a shot off!" I shouted out.

"_**Maximum armor."**_

I started crawling back behind cover as I got hit with multiple shots which started draining my armor rapidly. Just before I got to safety a Geth sniper got a last shot of on me, tearing through my suit and hitting me in the shoulder. "Gah!" I groaned out.

"_**User damage detected. Morphine administered.**_

_**Nanocell production increased. **_

_**Nanoshell damage detected. Reparing."**_

"Wraith! Are you hit?" Shepard's very worried voice was shouting in my ear as I leaned back against a wall.

"I got hit in the shoulder... Again." I complained as the morphine kicked in.

"I'm coming up there for you." Shepard said.

"Don't bother Shep. I'm fine. The suit will take care of me. You go and get rid of those Geth." I responded slightly surprised at the amount of worry in her voice.

"Damn it Wraith. You are going to be alone against an unknown number of Geth and who knows what else in the tunnels. What if something happens to you? I won't be there in time."

I was silent for a bit hearing the gunfire slowly die down as Wrex finished off the rest of the Geth. "Don't worry about me Shep. I can take care of myself. Besides I have the suit, it'll keep me alive." I said gently.

"But you made an old injury worse. It's going to hinder you." Shepard insisted.

"Don't you worry about that, The suit is already patching it up. I will be back to 100% in no time." I said trying to ease her mind.

"I- Just- Fine... Just be careful. I don't want you to get hurt." Shepard finally gave in.

"I will Shep. Just make sure you watch your back. You won't have me there." I responded.

"I know... That's the problem." Shepard mumbled quietly before continuing louder "Alright Wraith, we took down all the Geth here so far, so we'll be moving on now. See you when we get back."

"See you Shep. Wraith out." I stood up the suit already having fixed most of the damage done to my shoulder. Packing up I left a small drone to spot incoming threats when I was away. Entering the elevator I returned to Fai-Dan and asked him what help was needed. He told me who was in charge of the different problems and told me to check with them. After talking to the colonists in charge of the water, power and food shortages I headed down to the lower levels. Halfway down the stairs I was ambushed by two Geth stalkers.

I was able to quickly activate armor mode, absorbing their first shots and drawing my assault rifle I was able to bring down the first with a couple of bursts. The second proved to be rather elusive jumping between the pillars only to fire a shot off every now and then, however I was finally able to bring it down with a burst to its arm, causing it to fall to the ground allowing me to finish it off with a couple rounds to the head.

Proceeding carefully now that I had been ambushed once already, I activated my cloak and crept on, pausing when my energy reached critical to recharge. I came out on a walkway overlooking a large chasm. Multiple large pipes were running along the walls and ceiling. The large tunnel for lack of a better word stretched on into the distance with a few doors and corridors along the sides. Reaching the first corridor I peered around the edge to see that my visor was informing me of an objective. Glancing at it I saw what looked like one of the water main valves the colonist had told me of, along with four Geth units behind some low blocks of concrete.

_Most likely they know I'm coming from those stalkers._ I thought cursing the Geth's instant communication. Raising my assault rifle I uncloaked and activated my armor while opening fire on the nearest Geth unit. It fell quickly to my surprise attack. The second one was still raising its rifle when it too went down in a flurry of bullets. The last two then opened fire and I dropped back into cover. Activating cloak I rolled behind the next piece of cover and peered over it watching as the Geth continued to pour fire where I used to be. I noticed that they fired for so long that they over heated their weapons and I immediately took my chance and fired at the third myself. Sighting the last one I saw as it just jammed something into its rifle and started firing once more causing me to flinch and activate my armor to finish it off. _How the hell did it do that?_ I wondered. _It started firing way to soon. Its rifle should have still been cooling down._

As I approached the corpse of the Geth I noticed that its equipment was disassembling itself, no doubt to stop me from getting any of its tech. _Stupid self destruct mechanisms_. I grumbled "SECOND, is there a way to get some of their weapons without them self destructing?" I asked.

"_**Possible solution. I could emulate a Geth network long enough to scan the weapons if I can hack into a Geth unit. **_

_**Alert: Can only hack into a Geth unit through suit contact."**_

"Got it." I muttered before activating another water valve, cloaking and leaving the corridor I was in to come out on a walkway once more. I saw a walkway leading over the chasm to a door and headed over it figuring that I might find something of value there.

As the door opened I spotted two Geth snipers on a ledge overlooking the door. They raised their weapons immediately, but didn't see me due to my cloak. Raising my own assault rifle I got behind the door and leaned out sighting one of the snipers. Uncloaking I immediately started filling that sniper with rounds while simultaneously activating my armor. After the first sniper fell I switched to the second which was able to get a single shot off which pinged off of my chest , causing my aim to be thrown off a bit by the strength of the shot before it too was riddled with shots. A Shock trooper then dropped down from the ceiling forcing me back in cover to recharge my energy.

When my energy reached full I activated armor mode and charged out from cover to grab the shock trooper by the throat lifting it up. Immediately SECOND started to hack it. Different messages started popping up on my HUD showing its progress.

_**Interface enabled. . .**_

_**Hacking. . . **_

_**Bypassing firewalls 1-100%**_

_**Isolating unit 1-100%**_

_**Hack Complete. 100% **_

_**Downloading relevant data. . . 1-100%**_

"_**Hack complete. All systems rerouted. Cleared to proceed."**_

_There we go. Now I just need to find a weapon. This one is toast already. _I continued along the corridor before coming across a larger room that SECOND indicated strong Geth signals were emanating from. This had to be where that Geth transmitter that Fai-Dan told me about was. Entering the room cloaked I immediately noticed three things. One, there were three Krogan in the room. Two, they were all aiming their weapons at me. And three I was just about to run out of energy.

"Fuck." I said as I shimmered into existence and with three savage roars the krogan opened fire at me. Diving behind the wall I drew my knife knowing that krogan liked to get up close and personal. Sure enough just when my energy had filled up a roar of "Come out coward!" emanated from the room and the heavy footsteps of a krogan started charging towards the door. Knowing that I had very little time I jumped up reaching towards a ledge over the doorway. Grabbing hold I holstered my assault rifle waiting for the krogan to come out the door. I didn't have to wait long and just as he charged out I dropped down ontop of him sliding my blade right where his helmet connected to the rest of his armor. Pulling the blade forward I yanked off his helmet drawing a large cut on his head plate at the same time. Pulling out my pistol I pressed it against his head and pulled the trigger a few times, unloading a couple of modded rounds into his brain.

Rolling forward as the other two krogan started charging as well I sheathed my knife and drew a grenade, armed it, and threw it onto the ground in front of them where it exploded causing them to stagger back. Whipping out my assault rifle I started riddling the two krogan with bullets until they both slumped over dead.

"_**Geth Transmitter located"**_

I looked over to the back of the room and indeed there was a transmitter standing in a small alcove. Raising my assault rifle I poured a few rounds into it until it sparked and shut down.

"_**Geth Transmitter destroyed. Return to Fai-Dan."**_

"Later, first I need to kill that Alpha Varren and turn on the last of those water valves. And maybe find a power cell while we're down here." I muttered leaving the room and heading back to the main tunnel. Walking across the chasm I looked down. _That must go all the way down to the planet surface. Definitely don't want to fall down there._ On the other side of the chasm I saw a door that I had missed before. _Good thing there wasn't anyone hiding there._ Approaching it it slid open revealing a large room.

Walking in I immediately started hearing growls. Spinning around I saw a whole pack of Varren that while they couldn't see me, knew that something was there. Drawing my assault rifle I started firing bursts into the heads of different varren causing them to fall down limp. While ferocious beasts they didn't have any armor against bullets. When the last varren, which was quite a bit larger than any of the others, and actually took a couple of bursts to the head, finally fell to my feet I was able to look around and noticed the still burning wreck of a vehicle. SECOND informed me that It should have the power cells required for the colonist's generator. Removing them from the vehicle I left the room to look for more water valves.

Entering another corridor with water pipes running along side of it I came across another group of Geth units who I quickly took down. I was however able to acquire one of their weapons and SECOND quickly started to scan it.

_**Interface enabled. . .**_

_**Engaging Geth runtime emulation. . .**_

_**Scanning. . . **_

"_**Scan Complete. Weapon seems to be using some kind of exchangeable heat sink. Suggest you send data to CryTech."**_

"You got it." I muttered and seeing another water valve I activated it, SECOND informing me that the water was now running to the colony. It was then that I noticed a colonist on the catwalk.

"Hey! What are you doing here?" I asked him urgently "This place is crawling with Geth!"

"You- you are the one that the- ARGH" The colonist broke off screaming in pain. "Oh, that was- _gasp_ that was a good one."

"Are you alright?" I asked him concerned.

"Fine, just invoking the masters whip." He gasped. "You need to- GAH! Don't trust- AIE!" The colonist broke off and started muttering insanely to himself. Just as I was about to ask him another question a couple of Geth troopers came out and attacked us. I was able to quickly drop them but the colonist wouldn't budge at all, all the while muttering "I won't. I Won't. I can't. I won't do it." Deciding that the sewers should be rather safe now that I had cleared it of Geth I started heading back up top.

* * *

><p>Once on the surface I met with Fai-Dan and told him about having destroyed the Geth transmitter. He also seemed to want me to turn in the power cells as apparently they would allow the generator to power some kind of EMP field to defend against the Geth. Figuring that that was a good idea I headed over to May O'Connel, the colonist tending to the generator, after informing Davin Reynolds about the dead alpha varren.<p>

"Nice work with those Geth. I'm glad you showed up. Did you find any power cells down there in the sewers? We really need to get this EMP rig up and running." She said as I reached her.

"Yes. I found these power cells down in the tunnels. Will these work?" I asked her.

"Yes these are perfect! I'll put these in and get this generator running immediately." She said taking the power cells from me and turning towards the generator.

Macha Doyle, the colonist in charge of the water supplies walked up to me "The water started running not long ago. Thanks to you I suppose." She said.

"It was nothing. Just doing my job." I responded as I heard the generator start running behind me.

"Excuse me?" I turned to see another colonist standing beside me. "Could you help me with something?"

"Sure what do you need?" I asked kindly, following him as he lead me into a small building.

"Well we needed your help with something." He said evasively.

I furrowed my eyebrows at his reluctance to tell me what he needed. He waved me through a doorway and out into a courtyard- where three different devices stood. "What the-" I broke off as I was hit by a massive wave of energy.

"_**Warning. EMP assault. Systems impaired."**_

My HUD was scrambled. My suit was completely knocked out of whack by the rather powerful EMP. I tried to have SECOND start up my Energy Absorption sphere but it wouldn't engage. I barely saw some colonists come out and start dragging me away, and the last thing I saw before falling into unconsciousness was a crane lifting a part of the ship that sat in the middle of the colony to reveal some stairs leading downward.

* * *

><p>|||POV Change to Shepard|||<p>

* * *

><p>After taking out the Geth on the sky bridge Shepard drove the Mako onwards. They picked up some radio chatter on an open broadcast. It sounded like a woman was arguing with someone not on the radio, and as they reached a building halfway to the ExoGeni headquarters they were spotted by whoever was on the radio. Spotting a corridor leading down from the main road within the building they stopped and got out of the Mako to see if anyone was there.<p>

The corridor lead to an open room where a bunch of people were holed up from the Geth. A man, Ethan Jeong, seemed to be in charge but the woman he was talking to, Juliana Baynham, didn't hesitate to make her opinions known. As it turned out her daughter was still stuck inside the headquarters and Juliana knew that she was still alive. Jeong made sure to tell Shepard that she could only remove the Geth from the headquarters and nothing else, something that did not endear him to Shepard at all.

Leaving the holed up group Shepard, Garrus and Wrex got back in the Mako and they headed on toward the ExoGeni headquarters that had a Geth ship attached to it like some large parasite. They came across a few Geth units along the way but they were easily taken care of.

"Looks like we have to go on foot now Commander." Wrex grunted when the road stopped.

Getting out of the Mako and heading into the building they were immediately attacked by the Geth who had made themselves at home by attaching their cruiser to the side of the tower. "Looks like the Geth don't waste any time moving in." Garrus remarked as they finished off the last of the Geth.

"What are they up to? There is no point to this unless they are looking for something." Wrex muttered.

"That's what we are here to find out Wrex." Shepard told him. They spotted a door and hacked through it. They came across a room that at first glance was empty, however right as they walked through the doorway a Geth armature unpacked itself.

"Aw shit! Armature!" Garrus shouted out as the entire team started pouring fire into it.

"Garrus overload its shields!" Shepard yelled and Garrus threw a tech mine at it frying its shields. With its shields down the three poured fire into its head, but the Armor of the armature was holding as it reared up, its head glowing brightly. "Get down!" Shepard shouted and moments later a bright pulse crashed into the wall behind them.

"My shields are down!" Garrus called out jumping behind cover as shots pinged off of his GHOST armor.

"Enough of this." Shepard growled hitting the armature with a biotic throw causing it to actually collapse before trying to get up again. Shepard however would have nothing of the sort and warped the armored head of the armature before unloading a carnage shot straight into its head causing it to explode.

"This is where we could have used Wraith." Wrex mumbled.

"We'll dealt with it. Let's move on." Shepard said smirking.

Leaving the room they saw that the corridor on the opposite side of the room was blocked by some kind of energy field. "Looks like we have to drop down commander." Garrus said gesturing at a trench that lead on.

"Its a one way drop commander." Wrex stated looking it over. The bottom of the trench was at least ten meters down, beyond what the GHOST armor would allow them to jump.

"It's also our only way forward. Lets go." Shepard said.

The trench led to a large rubble filled room. As they entered the room they saw a dead varren before a gunshot rang out and Shepard's shields flared. Everyone raised their weapons at the one who shot them to see a young woman with a pistol standing there. "Damn it! I'm so sorry. I thought you were Geth, or one of those Varren." She said.

"The lack of flashlight heads should have shown that we weren't Geth. Also I have yet to see Varren that can walk on two legs." Wrex growled.

"You're safe now. But why were you here in the first place?" Shepard asked lowering her weapon.

"It's my own fault. Everyone was running and I stayed to back up data." She said "Next thing I knew the Geth ship latched on and the power went out."

"So why didn't you leave?" Wrex grunted irritably.

"I was trapped. I tried to get out but the way was blocked."

"A few Geth won't stop us." Shepard said.

"It's not the Geth, it's that energy field. They don't want anyone to get access to the-" She broke off looking unsure.

"I'm here for the Geth and it's very important that I find out what they are after." Shepard told her.

"Well I can't say for sure, but I would have to guess they are here for the Thorian. It's the only thing of interest here on Feros." The woman said.

"What's a Thorian?" Wrex asked.

"An indigenous life form. ExoGeni was studying it." She said.

"What do you know about it? Where can I find it?" Shepard wanted to know.

"I might be able to help, but not with those Geth crawling around the place. Look we need to get out of here past that field." She said evasively.

Shepard narrowed her eyes but let it go for now "So how are we going to do that?"

"Well I think that the Geth ship is powering it. I noticed the Geth laying power cables everywhere so you could follow the cables but the Geth are everywhere." She said.

"Fair enough. By the way are you Lizbeth Baynham? Your mother was looking for you." Shepard asked.

"Shes alive! Please get that field down so I can see my mother again." Lizbeth pleaded "Here take my ID. It should get you past any locked doors."

"Alright, we'll go and get that barrier down. Be careful." Shepard said turning away- only to see a pack of varren running towards them. "Varren! Take them down!" She shouted and the squad spun pulling out their assault rifles and opening fire on the varren taking them down quickly.

Once all the varren were dead they left and continued on through a door in the corner of the room. They came out on a staircase where they heard a krogan arguing with a VI. It seemed that he was trying to access some files that were above his security clearance.

"Stupid machine! Access encrypted files." The Krogan growled angrily. "No I don't want to review protocol!"

"I am unable to comply. Please contact your supervisor." The VI said way too calmly for the situation.

"Damn it! Tell me what I want or I'll blast your virtual ass into actual dust!"

"Please contact your supervisor for a level four security exemption. Or make an appointment with-"

"Stupid machine!" The krogan roared.

"If there is nothing else please step aside, there is a queue forming for the use of this console."

"Stupid VI." Muttered Shepard as the Krogan flared blue showing that he was a Battlemaster.

"Good. I need to kill something." He growled and charged towards the trio.

Wrex responded by also flaring blue and meeting the krogan's charge head on. What resulted was a colossal battle between the two while Shepard and Garrus attempted to get a shot off without hitting Wrex. It was however not needed as Wrex took the other krogan down after a few moments by unloading a shotgun blast into its head.

"ExoGeni corporation reminds all staff that the discharging of weapons while on company property is strictly forbidden." The VI said happily when Shepard walked up to it "Welcome back Research assistant Elizabeth Baynhem. What can I do for you?"

"What information was the last user trying to access?" Shepard asked it.

"The previous user was attempting to access data on Species 37, the Thorian."

"Tell me about the Thorian."

"All sensors monitoring the observation post at Zhu's Hope have been inactive for several cycles." the VI said.

"What does Zhu's Hope have to do with the Thorian?" Shepard asked.

"Species 37 is located within the substructure of the Zhu's Hope outpost."

"What does the Thorian do exactly?" Shepard asked a horrible suspicion rising in her mind.

"The Thorian is a simple plant lifeform that exhibits a sentient behavior uncommon with other flora. Through dispersion and the eventual inhalation of spores, it can infect and control other organisms, including humans. The Zhu's Hope control group has yielded interesting results. Before sensors went offline, almost 85% of all test subjects were infected."

"You bastards." Whispered Shepard "You knowingly had humans be infected and controlled? How- Wraith... Wraith is there."

"You should contact Wraith and Joker." Garrus said.

"Wraith? Come in Wraith! This is Shepard do you copy? Joker? This is Shepard do you copy? Come in Joker? Damn it the barrier must be blocking communications."

"We need to drop that barrier and bet back to the outpost." Wrex said.

"Yeah, we need to go." Shepard said casting one last disgusted look at the VI and heading up a flight of stairs. They came out in a room with two Geth kneeling before what seemed to be an alter. The team quickly dispatched them before they could even begin to stand up. Looking around they noticed two big claws coming in from the outside of the building with power cables running along side of them. Realizing that they had no way of cutting or blasting the claws they decided to keep moving, but not before Garrus commented on the alter.

"This room seems almost peaceful. Do you think the geth were using it as some kind of religious temple?"

"Whatever. I ain't here to learn their customs." Wrex said rolling his eyes.

Continuing along a small winding corridor they eventually came out in a room on the other side of the barrier that they saw before. They were immediately set upon by a few Geth troopers, shock troopers and stalkers which they quickly dealt with. Continuing on they climbed yet another flight of stairs and came across a room with two charging Krogan. The squad quickly focused down the first one and Wrex met the second with his own charge, knocking it down allowing the rest of the team to riddle it with bullets. On the far side of the room there was a terminal that turned out to belong to a colonist that wanted Shepard to retrieve some data.

"What do you think this data is?" Garrus asked.

"Well if we don't like what he tells us we have plenty of options." Grunted Wrex.

Continuing on the squad came across a large room with yet another claw. Before they could examine it closer they had to deal with the two Geth troopers and shock trooper who took offense to them being there.

"I don't think we can do anything to this claw either Shepard." Wrex commented looking it over.

"Commander! Over here. I found something." Garrus called out to Shepard from where he was accessing an ExoGeni Terminal.

"This doesn't look good. It looks like the Nodacrux colony might be having problems." Shepard mumbled as she read the message "We should probably check it out after we leave here."

Climbing a walkway that lead over the claw they immediately saw a rather large group of Geth waiting for them. Focusing down the weaker troopers first the squad dispersed themselves behind cover to take down the shock troopers and the juggernaut that was making its way towards them. A overload from Garrus took down the first troopers shields allowing Shepard to put a burst of bullets into its head. The second shock trooper was sent flying by a biotic throw from Wrex and the juggernaut was then taken out by the combined fire of the squad.

"Commander, I found something." Garrus had found a server node and hacked it.

"It would seem some of ExoGeni's employees dealt with Cerberus recently. Wraith would no doubt be interested in this." Shepard mused looking over the data.

"And here, it looks like the Geth are massing up in the Armstrong nebula." Garrus said. "Looks like they are planning to invade Citadel space."

"Interesting. The Council would be interested in that." Shepard called over to him.

"Commander. I think I found a way to smash through that claw." Wrex said from where he was looking at a ticket on a console.

"Let me see that." Shepard said joining Wrex. "31-34 PSI eh? I hope it still works... Lets see 11, 17 and 5. That would be 33 PSI... Perfect." She said pressing three buttons. "High pressure, here we go." She finished grinning wickedly pressing a final button on the console. With a loud hiss and massive crash a hangar door cut straight through the Geth Claw. Judging by the loud crashes sounding from outside it looked like the ship tore itself loose and had fallen to its destruction.

"That did it. The barrier should be down now." Garrus said relieved.

"This was my kind of mission. Kill a bunch of Geth and end things off with a huge crash!" Wrex chuckled.

"Don't let your guard down though, there might be a few Geth inside the base." Garrus warned.

Before Shepard could respond Joker's voice came in through the communication channel "I repeat, Normandy to shore party. Are you reading? Anyone there? Normandy to shore party. Come on, Commander, talk to me!" He sounded rather agitated.

"Is that you, Joker? What's going on over there?" Shepard asked.

"We're in lockdown here, Commander. Something happened to the colonists. They're banging on the hull, trying to claw their way inside the ship. They're freaking out!"

"They can't do any real damage. Hold your position, we are on our way back. What's Wraith's status?"

"Uh, We don't know Commander. We were tracking his position in the sewers, then when he came back up but after a few minutes we lost all contact. Not five minutes later the colonists went insane." He reported.

"We are heading back now Joker. Shepard out." She closed the channel before heading back the way they came "Come on, we need to get back there now. I have a bad feeling about this."

"Wraith's suit should protect him from the spore right? I mean it is sealed off from the outside right?" Garrus asked.

"Yes it is, but I think it's the colonists and the Thorian that are the problem." Shepard muttered jogging along.

"Wraith can handle himself Shepard. I doubt that the colonists could take him down." Wrex said.

"Not if they took him by surprise. Especially if what I think happened is right."

"Which would be?" Garrus inquired as Shepard broke off.

"That they set up an EMP trap for him." Shepard said grimly as they walked through the door where the barrier used to be. She stopped abruptly as she saw Lizbeth Baynham.

"There you are!" She said with relief as she saw Shepard come around the corner "We should get out of here. I don't think this place is safe."

"I need some answers, but you can tell me those on the way." Shepard said walking past her "You knew more about the Thorian than you let on."

"I was afraid. I wanted to stop the tests but they threatened me. They told me that I'd be next. When the Geth attacked I tried to send a message to Colonial Affairs but the Geth cut power before I could get it out. I never wanted this to happen!" she responded trying to keep up with the fast pace Shepard was setting.

"You did what you could. Now tell me where I can find the Thorian." Shepard ordered as she opened the hatch to the Mako and motioned everyone to get in.

"The Thorian is underneath Zhu's Hope, but the entrance was blocked by a freighter just before the Geth attacked.

"But why are the Geth after the Thorian? What could Saren want with it?" Shepard mused as she got in the drivers seat.

"Well it does have unique mind-control capabilities, that's what ExoGeni was interested in." She stated from her position in the back seat.

"Normandy to shore party come in." Jokers voice crackled over the radio.

"What is it Joker?" Shepard asked.

"We are getting a lot of Geth comm chatter. It looks like they're headed your way!" he said.

"Alright thanks for the warning Joker, now buckle up people. Wrex get on the guns!"

A short ride and a few dead Geth later Shepard stopped the Mako outside of the small outpost where the ExoGeni staff were hiding. The squad tried to stay hidden to see what the dispute was about but when the guards attempted to force Juliana away Lizbeth gave their position away.

"Damn it! Come out where I can see you! All of you!" Ethan Jeong the Chief ExoGeni employee shouted. Shepard slowly got up and walked down to him. "Shepard. Damn it! I knew it was too much to hope the Geth would kill you."

This caused Shepard's eyes to narrow and her glare at Jeong intensified. "I found some interesting facts about you in the ExoGeni database. I know what happened on Akuze. This doesn't have to-" He broke off immediately as Shepard drew her pistol and aimed it at his head.

"Shut the fuck up and let them go." She said in her most dangerous tone.

"You can't just order me around! I got orders from ExoGeni. This colony is being repurposed." Jeong blustered raising his own pistol feebly.

"This is a human colony, Jeong. You can't just repurpose us." Lizbeth argued angrily.

"It's not just you! There is something here far more valuable than a few colonists."

"You mean that telepathic plant that is living under Zhu's Hope taking control of the colonists there. Something ExoGeni knew about all along." Shepard said.

"You won't get away with this, Jeong." Juliana said.

"So you keep saying. But nobody is going to miss a few colonists." Jeong stated.

"Alright that is fucking it. I do not have the time for this fucking shit. How about I tell you what to do huh?" Shepard growled. "You tell ExoGeni that the Geth destroyed the Thorian, and I won't shoot your head off."

"You- You cant! You'd go to prison!" Jeong blustered.

"Unlikely, because I am a Spectre, while you are a bean counter. I could easily get away with killing you, and right now, that isn't looking like such a bad idea." Shepard pushed the barrel of her pistol towards his head and slowly moved her finger from outside the trigger guard to rest on the trigger.

"Fine. Fine! But the infected colonists can't be here when the company men come." Jeong said giving way under Shepard's fierce glare and threat.

"You can't just kill the colonists though. It isn't their fault!" Juliana said appalled.

"If we kill the Thorian, the infection should stop, right?" Shepard asked Lizbeth who nodded. "The only problem then is that they are between me and the Thorian."

"I believe we can use a nerve agent to neutralize the colonists. We have an insecticide that contains a weak nerve agent, we should be able to use that to knock them out, as their nervous systems have been weakened by the Thorian's control." Juliana said.

"If we must consider it, drop it in a concussion grenade." Wrex suggested.

"Good idea. Give me that nerve agent and let's go." Shepard said collecting the gas. Just before she was about to leave she turned and tossed an OSD to the colonist who wanted his data. Without a backward glance she headed back up to the Mako.

"She seems to be very worried about Wraith." Garrus told Wrex as they followed her.

"Of course Turian. He's her oldest friend." Wrex grunted.

The ride towards Zhu's Hope was quiet,only being broken by some surprise as they started receiving data from the probe that Wraith had left in his sniper nest, allowing them to be ready for a few Geth on the skybridge. Pulling up to the entrance to the colony they got out and saw what looked like a zombie. "Those look like what Wraith said he encountered at that Cerberus base." Wrex said.

"If it is kill it." Shepard ordered, and as the zombie stood up and tried to charge them the squad filled it with bullets causing it to shower the area around it with acid.

"Definitely looks like it commander. I guess we know where Cerberus got those from." Garrus said.

"Was that one of the colonists?" Wrex asked.

"I doubt it. That level of mutation probably would take quite a bit of time." Garrus gave his opinion.

"Try not to kill the colonists. We have the gas grenades if they prove to be hostile. If you absolutely must, non lethal shots only." Shepard ordered and after receiving an affirmative from both Garrus and Wrex opened the door revealing a whole host of these Thorian Creepers as Shepard decided to call them.

"How many of these things are there?" Garrus yelled as he saw them.

"Garrus, Wrex take out those creepers. I'll knock those colonists out!" Shepard shouted pulling out a grenade and with the help of the Ghost armor VI threw it right between the four colonists where it detonated causing them to slump down. After the colonists were down it was only a matter of killing the creepers which usually died to a couple of shots to the head.

With the Creepers dead, the squad headed into the elevator leading down to the main area of zhu's hope. They came across another four creepers which they quickly killed and two colonists who Shepard knocked out. Continuing on they continued killing creepers and knocking out colonists. They had just knocked out Arcelia when Shepard noticed something. "Wait, I know those weapons." She muttered grabbing the assault rifle and Shotgun Arcelia had been using. "These are Wraith's weapons. I knew it. They got him."

"What should we do Commander?" Garrus asked.

"Stick together and search the colony. Maybe we can find him." Shepard ordered.

"You got it Shepard" Wrex said.

The squad searched through the entire colony knocking out colonists and killing creepers along the way. Eventually they arrived at a courtyard where they spotted three devices along with a sniper rifle and knife. Shepard immediately recognized them as Wraith's.

"What are these Garrus?" She asked gesturing at the devices.

Garrus scanned them with his omni-tool. "They look like some kind of EMP generators. How did they get EMP's?"

"I don't know but we need to find Wraith and-" Shepard broke off when she heard something behind her. Spinning around she leveled her pistol at the disturbance to see Fai-Dan stumbling towards her his movements jerky.

"I tried to fight it but you can't imagine the pain." He gasped "It wants me to kill you but I won't!' I started to raise his pistol to his own head still fighting the thorians control. "I WON'T!" At that moment Shepard forced her suits overcharge to activate and charged forward slamming into Fai-Dan and forcing the pistol from his grip.

"Come on! Fight it!" She growled at him. Seeing that Fai-Dan was still trying to fight it she immediately asked "Where is Wraith? Where is he?"

"It- It wanted him down there with- With it." He gasped out in obvious pain. Shepard took the canister holding the nerve gas and sprayed it at him forcing Fai-Dan to fall unconscious.

"Alright come on, this Thorian needs to die." Shepard spat out, standing up and walking towards the crane controls to free up the path to the Thorian. A few punched buttons and the freighter was raised up revealing a set of stairs leading down into the dark. The stairs were pitch black and the squad activated their night vision. Eventually they saw a faint light coming from the end of the passage they were following allowing them to deactivate their night vision.

"All right, we just need to find this creature and determine what it. . . what it. . ." Garrus trailed off at his first glimpse of the Thorian. "This was not covered by my training manuals." He stated unnecessarily. The Thorian was huge. It had a round body that was hanging in the middle of a large chamber. It also seemed to have a head-like appendage with some tentacles hanging from where the mouth would be.

"Nothing's ever simple, is it?" Shepard asked annoyed walking forward. The Thorian soon started making loud grunting noises and seemed to be contracting. Fluid started dripping from its mouth and before long a green, naked, Asari fell to the floor. Shepard raised her lip in disgust as the Asari stood up.

"Invaders! Your every step is a transgression. A thousand feelers appraise you as meat, good only to dig or decompose. I speak for the Old Growth, as I did for Saren. You are within and before the Thorian. It commands that you be in awe."

"Oh shut up and tell me where Wraith is." Shepard said drawing her shotgun.

"The Organic Machine will be very useful to the Thorian. It will clone an army of them to-" The Asari's speech broke off as Shepard's shotgun barked and blew its head off.

"I've never killed a naked Asari before. Looks like there is always a first to everything." Shepard muttered. "Come on. Wraith has to be here somewhere, and the Thorian must have a weakness of some kind." She ordered blasting a Creeper that came running around the corner.

"That growth looks like it's holding up the Thorian." Garrus said pointing out a large node that was connected to the wall.

"I see it." Shepard shouted blasting another two creepers before using a carnage shot on the node causing it to explode. A creeper tried attacking her while her back was turned but she spun and kicked it, knocking it down, and shot it. The Thorian made a loud screaming sound as it felt the Node being destroyed.

"That hurt it. A few more of those and it's in trouble." Wrex said gleefully at hearing its scream.

Heading up a flight of stairs the squad entered a room with no less than 15 Thorian creepers and another Asari Clone waiting for them. The squad had little trouble dealing with the creepers, but now that the Asari was ready for them the fight was a little harder due to her biotic powers. Eventually her head once again exploded courtesy of Shepard's shotgun. Continuing on, the Thorian kept sending Creepers at the squad, all of which were easily taken out by the entire squad with Shepard clearly in the lead.

Coming across another node Shepard destroyed it causing the Thorian to scream once more. Shortly after they came across another Asari who Shepard immediately threw over the edge with a biotic throw. Another node and an Asari later they received a surprise. "Commander! Its Wraith's suit signal! It just popped up!" Garrus called out excitedly and sure enough Wraith's suit signal was coming from a room just ahead.

Running into the room the squad quickly skidded to a halt. "What the hell is that?" Wrex asked seeing it. It looked slightly familiar, but only in a very twisted sense. "It looks like-"

"A Nanosuit." Shepard finished for him and indeed it did look like some twisted nanosuit that the Thorian had obviously tried to clone it itself. It however didn't have a helmet and Shepard could easily see that the thing inside of the suit was a just as twisted version of Wraith. Its face was a dark green, much like that of the Creepers and its eyes were black as night. Seeing the squad it rushed towards them at much faster speeds than anything else. "Take it down! That thing is not Wraith! I repeat take that thing down!" Shepard shouted and opened fire at the cloned Wraith. The clone smashed into the squad knocking Garrus and Shepard down while staggering Wrex.

It grabbed Shepard by the neck and lifted her off of the floor. Gasping for breath Shepard flared blue and hit the clone with a biotic throw throwing it back into a wall. Wrex then flared blue himself and hit the clone with a warp which started tearing the suit apart before their eyes. Shepard was reminded of Therum where she hit wraith with a warp accidentally herself. Shaking her head she picked up her shotgun and fired multiple times into its body.

"That was anti-climactic." Wrex grumbled quietly as Shepard ran over to a sack on the far side of the room from where Wraith's suit signal was originating from.

* * *

><p>POV back to Wraith.<p>

* * *

><p>Pain. Excruciating pain. I don't know how long I've been in here, where ever here is, but I didn't really care. All I knew is that I was in pain. It felt like my mind was being torn apart. Eventually I started hearing a voice. A voice I knew. SECOND. It was saying something and I found that I could just concentrate on what it was saying and ignore the pain to some degree.<p>

"_**Spore infestation critical. Nano-systems impaired.**_

_**Foreign identity detected. . . Unable to purge.**_

_**Spore infestation terminal. . . Switching to core function mode. . . Life support priority. . .**_

_**Deep layer protocols engaged. . . **_

_**Infestation contained. . . Re-booting core functions. . .**_

_**Alien tissue vector isolated. . . Retained at deep layer. . .**_

_**Processing. . .**_

_**Nano-form analysis underway. . . Compatibility register enabled. . .**_

_**Processing. . .**_

_**Compiling profile. . .**_

_**Nano-catalyst viability assessment underway. . .**_

_**Processing. . .**_

_**Alien tissue vector analysis complete. . .**_

_**Nano-form profiling complete. . . **_

_**Compatibility registration underway. . .**_

_**Processing. . .**_

_**Compatibility registration complete. 100 percent.**_

_**Allied forces detected. Re-booting nano-systems. . . **_

_**Re-boot successful. Broadcasting suit signals.**_

_**Beginning foreign identity purge. . . Seek distance from Identity source."**_

The sack holding me split open allowing me to fall gasping and coughing out of the sack into the arms of Shepard. "Wraith! Wraith!" I heard her voice but I was still recovering from the immense pain of the Thorian's control. Blinking I looked around me and saw Shepard, Garrus and Wrex looking at me with varying degrees of concern. Looking farther I saw a node that was connected to a large bulbous plant.

"_**Total Systems online. . . Ready to deploy. Seek interface with Neural node."**_

Stumbling forward I ignored the voices of the different squad members, my only objective to get to that node. Thorian creepers attempted to attack me but the gunfire from the squad brought them down. I finally reached the node and punched it, sinking my arms into it.

"_**Spore infestation: filtering. . . Seeking interface. . ."**_

I heard the plant begin to scream in pain after a few seconds and turning to look I saw it writhing as my suit was re-purposing its own spore against itself. All the creepers, having lost the direction to the plant, went berserk started attacking themselves and the other nodes as the re-purposed spore started taking control of them as well. Before long the plant sagged, enough of the nodes destroyed that it couldn't support its weight and it slowly fell to its death.

"Fuck... You... Plant." I said as I fell into unconsciousness.

* * *

><p>I awoke slowly, my head pounding. I groaned raising my hand to my forehead. Noticing that I didn't have my helmet on I opened my eyes to see the ceiling of the Normandy's medical bay.<p>

"Rise and shine." Raising my head I saw Shepard sitting on the bed next to me.

"What the fuck happened?" I asked.

"As far as I can tell, the Thorian forced the colonist's to capture you." She told me getting up to sit next to me.

I groaned as the memories flooded back into me. "The EMP. That plant."

"So Garrus was right. They did use an EMP on you. Why didn't you use your energy absorption thing to counteract the EMP?" She asked me.

"Fried. That was one strong EMP. I think that they had meant to use it to make a defensive barrier against the Geth. Those EMP's were meant to make a continuous EMP field. When the colonists used it against me it discharged a massive blast, not to mention the continuous field pretty much kept frying the suit." I sighed. "EMP's are still the Suits greatest weakness. Aside from biotics as we figured out." I added.

"Yeah, we used that against the cloned suit the Thorian made." Shepard told me.

"Wait, what? The Thorian cloned the suit!" I asked sitting bolt upright before groaning as my head felt like it was about to implode and falling back limply.

"Woah. Take it easy. You've been through a lot. The Thorian really did a number on you." Shepard told me before continuing "But yes it cloned the suit. It didn't do a very good job though. It was faster than a normal person but still slower than your suit. It was rather strong though." She told me grimacing rubbing her neck.

"Please tell me you were able to recover it." I pleaded knowing that not only could it be a disaster if anyone got their hands on it, even if it was a twisted version of the suit, but also it would be a very valuable source of research.

"Relax. We got it, its down in the cargo hold."

"I suppose the Thorian is what Saren and the Geth wanted?" I asked unnecessarily.

"That's right." Shepard told me before telling me of her adventures at the ExoGeni facility. And her subsequent battle with the Thorian.

"That reminds me, What did you do to the Thorian back there?" She asked me coming to a close.

"Used its own spore against it." I muttered before elaborating "The Thorian underestimated the suit, something just about everyone does. Including myself sometimes. You see the Thorian's mistake was creating such a close bridge between itself and the suit. You see the suit was made with the intention to keep the wearer and through that itself alive. As such we had to make it be able to rewrite its code and recreate itself to fit its surroundings. It adapts itself. It can-" I broke off as I remembered that we were in a insecure area. "I'll tell you later Shepard. Its not safe to talk about classified things here."

"Right good idea. So what did the Thorian do to you?" She asked curiously.

I hesitated, "I- Look. I don't really want to talk about it more than once, so join me in my office and I'll tell you along with the other CryNet heads."

"Are you sure you want me there?" She asked.

"Yeah if you don't mind that is." When Shepard shook her head I sat up slower this time, noticing that my head was no longer feeling as if a couple Phantoms decided to use it as a punching bag. "Do you know where my mask is?" I asked looking around, having just noticed the lack of a HUD in front of my eyes.

"About that... When we got you out of the Thorian your mask wasn't on and Garrus recognized you. We made sure to put it on when we were leaving the colony so that the colonists didn't recognize you but by now the entire crew pretty much knows. I told them that they were not to tell anyone though." She explained holding out my mask.

"What's done is done then." I sighed and hung it on my suit "No need to wear it if everyone knows." I explained at Shepard look. Getting up I slowly made my way out of the med-bay and towards my office.

"You know. You were supposed to stay in the med bay." Shepard told me amused as she followed me.

"Regular medicine won't do any better than my suit." I responded. Outside there were just a few members of the crew who quickly looked towards us but seeing Shepard with me they quickly looked away.

Opening the door to my office I stepped inside, immediately booting up my computer terminal.

"So what is that anyway?" Shepard asked me gesturing towards the cradle.

"A cradle. Its used to perform scans of a Nanosuit." I answered "We use it to find out what happened to a nanosuit after it makes an upgrade."

The moment I got my terminal booted up I received a call from the other two CryNet Heads and Niel Teems. "Well that's interesting, It looks like they were waiting for me." I muttered opening the channel.

"Martin, We have a problem. Cerberus is attacking our base on Eletania."

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry for the long wait. I wanted to have this out before ME3 came out but I failed. Sorry. Once ME3 came out well you can understand right? Probably not but meh. I also had some serious thoughts about the way Nano Effect is going.<strong>

**Firstly I went back and read the first few chapters and I think that my later chapters are written much better. So I thought I might go back and rewrite them. When I was thinking about rewriting them I also thought that I should do a complete rewrite of the entire story to change it somewhat. So here is my question. Should I do a complete rewrite? This rewrite would have CryNet play a much bigger role in galactic politics. Now if I don't then I will still have CryNet play a larger role than what I have them do now. Also both shepard and wraith would be much darker and renegade. they would both become more paragon over the course of events in ME1, but definitely have that darker streak. I'd also change some things to be more plausible. **

**Things that I would do even if you guys think I shouldn't do a complete rewrite. Change the combat systems and weapons around. I will have them using weapons from Mass effect 2 and 3, but still have the heat system from ME1 (overheating...) Armor wise I would have it be a mix between ME1,2 and 3. There would still be the armor pieces from ME2 and 3 but there would also be some full armor sets from ME1. Also you may have noticed but I already changed the real name of Wraith to Martin Duncan. There would be a few other things that I would change as well, but nothing as big as an entire rewrite. **

**Then lastly I wanted to ask if you want shorter chapters or chapters of similar length to what I already have. (Like this one or the one before it). Shorter chapters would mean that I should be able to update faster and hopefully regularly while longer chapters mean that updates would take longer and be irregular. **

**If you guys would vote on the Poll I'm setting up on my profile on rewrite or no rewrite. Long or short chapters that would be great. Leaving reviews giving me your opinion would also help as I want this story to be at its best.**

**Lastly I've decided to forgo the updates on my profile and instead put them up on my twitter account. You can find me legion001 under the name LEGION. twitter . com/#!/LEGION001 (remove the spaces)**

**My next update will be one of two things. A A/N that says what's going to happen to the story once I close the poll or a update if you guys decide on no rewrite and short chapters.**

**Once more thank you to DN7 whose help is invaluable.**


	9. AN: Rewritten story is out!

_Hey guys. I really wish that I didn't have to do this because I really despise seeing a chapter being uploaded for a story only to see that its only a big A/N but I feel that I have to upload something just to tell you guys exactly whats happening. _

_So its been a long 6 almost 7 months without an update and I don't have any excuses, only explanations. First about one month after uploading chapter 8 I had chap 9 coming along nicely when I ran into a problem. I realized that what I was writing wasn't making much sense in the grand scheme of things so I had to start over. Chapter 9 is now sitting at 22 pages and is almost done, but I haven't uploaded it yet for a few reasons. Firstly I wanted to add a few things to better explain things that will happen later on. Secondly the first few chapters downright suck. Now I'm not saying that my newer chapters are very good but they are much better than my first chapters. So I'm currently rewriting the first few chapters and then I will edit the later ones to make sure that they fit with the new changes. For the rewrite I'm done with chaps 1-4 and I'm actively working on chapter 5. I think that I will be able to edit chapters 6-8 without major rewrites and then I only have to finish chap 9. This however could still take a while._

_Now for what I am adding to the earlier chapters:_

_I'm giving more information on CryNet, the Phantoms and Inquisitors, pretty much putting the details in from the start instead of as I thought of them as before. Before I had the general idea of NE in my head but no real details. Many of the details that found their way in are ones that I thought of while I was writing either that scene or before and just wanted to put them in somewhere. _

_I'm also adding some details and restrictions to make CryNet be kept in check. I'm trying to keep CryNet and the Nanosuit from becoming OP. _

_I'm changing Shepard's personality slightly and changing Wraith around to keep him from stealing Shepard's spotlight and pretty much making Shepard a secondary character. New Wraith will have some flaws that will present some big problems later on._

_I hope that the "new" Nano Effect will be much better than the old one and become something actually worth reading, as tbh if I would come across my own fic I would stop reading after the first few chapters as I would think it to be bad. I hope that I can fix that._

_**Important!**_

_As it is I am going to be posting the new chapters in an entirely new story on my profile, so that you guys can get the newest stuff that I have so head over there for that. It's going to be called Nano Effect: The Geth Crysis._

_Finally, I find myself needing OC's for the Inquisitors so I'm going to do something simillar to the way iBayne did it for his fic _"Galaxy At War: N7". _Excellent story btw I would definitely recommend reading it. _

_I will be posting exactly what I want for your submissions on an A/N on one of the new chapters for the revised NE version, mainly because you will probably need the info._

_Again sorry for taking so long, and please head over to the new and updated NE!_


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